


rewrite the stars

by bapaldeul



Series: we shared a moment that will last till the end [5]
Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: 2park spells trouble, M/M, Summer Break AU, chamhwi as stepbrothers, daniel is soft and loves the stars, fboy stereotypes, it's supposed to be fluff but idk!, onghwang r not the main but they appear in almost every chap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-03-31 07:43:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13970478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bapaldeul/pseuds/bapaldeul
Summary: “Yes!” Woojin says excitedly at the possibility of Jihoon agreeing. “It’ll be like a secret mission! We could call it Operation Fuckboy.”“We arenotcalling it Operation Fuckboy,” Jihoon sighs, already knowing this is a terrible idea.or: the au in which jihoon spends summer break in L.A and woojin has a *conspiracy* theory which results in jihoon falling for the boy who loves the stars too much





	1. plane rides and popsicles

**Author's Note:**

> i really don't know what led me to creating this au i just did.
> 
> enjoy~
> 
> comments and feedback are always appreciated by me <3

“ _Mom_ ,” Jihoon stresses through clenched teeth and a forced smile. “I’m going to be fine. Woojin took half of my clothes with him to L.A anyway.”

 _That little thief_ , Jihoon mutters under his breath.

“Right,” she says. “Your point is absolutely valid. Are you sure you’re not going to need-“

“Honey,” Jihoon’s father cuts in, thankfully saving him from any more nagging he really doesn’t need right now. “They’re boys, they’ll figure stuff out.”

Other than the fact that Jihoon is absolutely sure that Woojin has half of his belongings over at the other side of the world, he’s sure that whatever he needs, L.A has. 

“You have fun,” Jihoon’s father says, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “Make sure to say hi to Woojin’s parents for us.”

“Relax, dad,” Jihoon smiles. “I’m sure I’m going to have more fun at Woojin’s than at aunt’s house.”

 

For once, Jihoon is thankful for his good for nothing friend. Their house was going to go under renovation (his mother’s idea) during his summer break and they had arranged to stay at his aunt’s house for the time being (his father’s idea). 

Jihoon loves his aunt – she feeds him, maybe a little too much sometimes. But Jihoon isn’t in the mood to laze his summer away with people the average age of fifty. So, when Woojin offers him a room in L.A, Jihoon jumped at the chance and booked his plane ticket to L.A immediately.

 

“Same,” his dad sighs dejectedly, glancing at Jihoon’s mother to make sure she isn’t listening. 

“Don’t give them too much trouble,” his mother warns, but gives him a hug anyway. “If you feel like coming back, just give me a call, okay?”

Before Jihoon has the chance to point out that Woojin has given his entire family more trouble than his mother can recount, his dad swoops in for another bear hug.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he says, “Now, go. See you later, alligator.”

Jihoon lets his mother give him one more smooch on his cheek before tearing himself away from his parents. With his luggage in his right hand and passport in his left, he excitedly walks to the entrance.

Once inside, he continues to wave to his parents, until they’re out of sight.

It’s his first summer in L.A – what could go wrong?

 

 

 

 

 

 

After numbing his butt on the airplane for almost 11 hours, Jihoon finally touches down. He’s had enough of babies screaming in the plane and his annoying seatmate that has to go to the toilet every hour, so he storms out of the airport, only to see Woojin’s stupid snaggle face waiting for him at the arrival hall.

Jihoon squints (he has shit eyesight) at the sign Woojin is holding in the air.

_“Welcome back, idiot.”_

“Gee, thanks,” Jihoon says, accepting Woojin’s handshake. It’s a complicated one they made when they were ten, but that’s a story for another day. He takes a closer look at the sign, “It’s like you didn’t even try.”

“Excuse you,” Woojin snaps, holding the sign close to his chest like it’s something important. “I actually got out of bed before noon, had the motivation to do something for you, and attempted to write something nice. So, yeah, I think I tried.”

Jihoon snatches the sign out of Woojin’s arms – the words are written in a dark blue permanent market in Woojin’s chicken stretch but knowing his friend, this is maximum effort, Jihoon has to admit.

“I’m starving,” he whines, following Woojin, who by the way, didn’t even offer to carry his luggage for him once. 

“Good for you,” Woojin smiles. “Mom cooked. You’re in for a treat.”

And that’s one thing Jihoon will never deny – Woojin’s mom makes a mean meal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Hi, Jihoon!” Woojin’s mother greets him as soon as he steps into their house, along with Woojin’s step-father, who gives him a friendly wave from the kitchen. “How was your flight?”

Jihoon scrunches his face, “Absolutely terrible.”

Woojin’s mother smiles, ruffles Jihoon’s hair and tells him, “Daehwi’s upstairs. He misses you a lot, go and say hi.”

“I will,” Jihoon replies, following Woojin upstairs to where he can already hear Daehwi strumming on his guitar. Hesitantly, he knocks on Daehwi’s door, and pushes it open, where he can see the younger boy on his bed, music sheets spread out all over.

Daehwi’s face lights up like a bulb – which is what Jihoon loves about him. 

“Jihoon hyung!” Daehwi yells, diving into his arms for a hug. “It’s been so long.”

“It has,” Jihoon replies, smiling at Woojin who’s watching them from the door. “I’ll be here for a whole 2 months, so don’t get tired of me just yet.”

“I composed a song, do you want to hear it?” Daehwi beams.

“Maybe later,” Woojin cuts in. “This pig is starving, let’s have lunch first, alright?”

Daehwi pouts, but being the sweet child that he is, agrees and even helps Jihoon carry some of his things to Woojin’s room. Daehwi tells Jihoon to rest, and he’ll call him down when lunch is ready.

As soon as Daehwi leaves, Jihoon plops onto his mattress, exhausted from the long flight.

“Didn’t sleep?” Woojin comments.

“Baby on plane,” Jihoon mumbles, and that’s really all it takes for Woojin and him to groan in unison. 

“I hope you’re not planning on wasting summer away by sleeping,” Woojin says after a few seconds of silence. “We have many places to go.”

“Course not,” Jihoon springs up from his bed. “If I wanted to be a real couch potato I would have stayed in Korea. When are you going to introduce me to that cute boy in your class?”

Woojin draws in a sharp breath and for a short moment, Jihoon thinks he sees the lightest of blushes greet his friend’s cheeks. 

“Maybe later,” Woojin mumbles, brushing Jihoon off.

 _Bingo_ , Jihoon thinks.

Woojin is only saved by his mother’s call for lunch. Just like old times, they wrestle each other down the stairs to be the first one; because only the first one gets to choose the best seat. In the end, Jihoon beats Woojin, and takes his rightful seat in front of the ribs.

“Inviting you was a mistake,” Woojin snaps, earning him disapproving looks from his parents.

Jihoon only bats his eyes innocently at Woojin, and gladly accepts the plate of pasta Woojin’s mother passes to him. It tastes like heaven; and Jihoon really shouldn’t have expected anything else from Woojin’s family. If he’s going to be eating this good every meal, he can tell it’s going to be a good summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It’s so hot,” Jihoon whines as he’s halfway to the “beach” that Woojin recommends. He’s honestly rethinking his choices, wondering how nice it would be to be at his aunt’s house, lazing around on the couch and playing Xbox. 

“It’s summer,” Woojin deadpans as Daehwi runs ahead to meet someone he recognises. “Besides, you look like you haven’t socialized in months. How are you still functioning as a living, breathing, human?”

“How did you know?” Jihoon gasps. 

When he first entered college, Jihoon had this fantasy that half his time would be spent drinking, partying, and maybe even finding the love of his life. The reality was – lectures at 8am in the morning, and surviving on 5 cups of coffee writing a paper he really should have started on 3 weeks earlier. The only person he regularly interacted with was his roommate, Guanlin.

“You look like shit,” Woojin admits. He then whacks Jihoon lightly on the back, drawing a pained groan from the other boy, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you have fun this summer.”

“ _Fun_ ,” Jihoon mutters under his breath. 

Thankfully, Woojin doesn’t have time for another snarky comment because Daehwi comes running back, with another taller boy in his hand, and starts assaulting Woojin with hurried slaps on his arm.

“He’s here, he’s here,” Daehwi whispers in a rushed voice. 

“Ow! Ow,” Woojin winces, “Who’s here?”

“ _Him_ ,” Daehwi snaps, like Woojin’s magically supposed to know who Daehwi’s referring to.

Woojin frowns, searches his mind for a few moments, and then smirks, “Oh, _him_.”

Meanwhile, Jihoon exchanges awkward glances with Daehwi’s friend who he’s yet to know the name of because Daehwi is too busy fanboying about a boy that can’t be named.

Woojin glances at Jihoon, then remembers that Jihoon exists, and says, “This in Jinyoung, Daehwi’s friend from high school. Jinyoung, this is Jihoon.”

“Woojin’s only friend,” Jihoon adds, shaking hands with Jinyoung, who doesn’t look like he talks much. He only offers Jihoon a small smile at his joke, before he’s dragged away by Daehwi, who is still whispering about an unidentified boy.

“You didn’t have to out me like that,” Woojin sighs when Daehwi and Jinyoung leave.

“It’s true,” Jihoon shrugs. “Who is Daehwi talking about, by the way?”

“You’ll see,” Woojin says mysteriously. 

Jihoon makes Woojin choose the shadiest area to put their things down at; which only encourages Woojin to make fun of him, and Jihoon retaliates, saying he doesn’t want to get sunburnt.

“That’s _him_ ,” Woojin says, nudging Jihoon, who has assumed the most comfortable position on their picnic mat. 

Groaning, Jihoon rolls over and lifts his head.

“Who?”

“The guy Daehwi is crazy over,” Woojin shrugs, cocking his head toward a group of boys playing beach volleyball a distance away. 

“Which one?” Jihoon squints, there has to be at least eight of them there. 

“Blonde hair,” Woojin notes. “Tall, looks like a fuckboy.”

Jihoon follows Woojin’s instructions – and his gaze comes to rest on one boy indeed.

“Kang Daniel,” Woojin elaborates lazily. “We’re in the dance club, not that we’re close, though.”

“How do you know he’s a fuckboy?” Jihoon groans, “You can’t just label all your step-brother’s love interests ‘fuckboy’ when you aren’t satisfied with them.”

Jihoon prepares himself for Woojin to start yelling at him about how much he doesn’t know boys.

“Fuckboy removes shirt in,” Woojin begins counting down, and Jihoon keeps his eyes on the boy in question.

“3…”

 _He is pretty handsome_ , Jihoon thinks. _Wouldn't peg him as Daehwi's type, but still._

“2…” 

But if Woojin is right about Kang Daniel being a fuckboy, he’s definitely not approving him as Daehwi’s love interest, because Daehwi is a sweet pea who deserves better.

“1.”

As if on cue, Kang Daniel’s hands tug upwards on the hem of his shirt and throws it to the side, revealing his upper body and toned abs. (not that Jihoon is taking notes.)

“Fuck,” Jihoon marvels.

“Told you,” Woojin shrugs, bored. 

“Definitely fuckboy,” Jihoon absentmindedly agrees, shifting his gaze from Kang Daniel’s abs to his face. He scores a nice spike against the opposing team and hi-fives his teammates, who lift him up in victory.

“I’m going to get an ice-cream,” Jihoon announces. “You want one?”

“Yeah,” Woojin agrees. “Get me a popsicle, please?”

“Since you’re being so disgustingly nice,” Jihoon says as he stands up and dusts his shirt down. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As with all of Jihoon’s bad decisions, it begins with a dilemma.

He’d come to the shop with a vanilla cone in mind, and a popsicle for Woojin.

But now that he’s here with Woojin’s lemon lime popsicle in one hand, he’s beginning to think that maybe he wants a popsicle too.

While he’s staring at his choices, someone jumps in and grabs a lemon lime popsicle for himself.

“Too many choices, huh?” a deep voice comes after and Jihoon looks up.

 _Fuckboy!_ Jihoon immediately thinks when he’s greeted by the same mop of blonde hair from earlier. 

“Excuse me?” the boy, which he keeps forgetting he knows the name of, now Kang Daniel, frowns.

_Did he just say that aloud?_

“I mean,” Jihoon chuckles nervously. “Yeah?”

Kang Daniel stares at him for a moment, then breaks into a grin.

“Lemon lime is my favourite, but the orange one is good too. In fact, I think all the flavours are really good. I mean, all popsicles are great on a hot day like this, aren’t they?” Kang Daniel starts blabbering, without ever losing the smile on his face. “Wait, I don’t think I’ve seen you around. Are you new here?”

Jihoon barely has time to register the flood of words that have been thrown at him. 

_How does this boy talk so much to a complete stranger?_

“I’m new,” Jihoon confirms. “Here for summer break, with my friend.”

“Oh!” Daniel says excitedly. “Who? Maybe I know him!”

 _Fuckboys know everyone_ , Jihoon notes. Maybe Woojin was right after all.

“Park Woojin.”

“Woojin from dance?” Daniel wonders aloud. “You guys are friends?”

“Unfortunately,” Jihoon deadpans, drawing a fit of giggles from Daniel.

“He’s always so quiet and shy,” Daniel says, following Jihoon to the counter. He’d finally decided on a vanilla cone; he could always come back for a popsicle cone later. Besides, this Kang Daniel was really starting to freak him out. They met barely 2 minutes ago, yet he was acting like they were best friends.

“Yeah, that’s the better side of him,” Jihoon replies, giving the cashier exact change.

“You’re funny,” Daniel chirps, following close behind him.

Jihoon quickens his steps with Woojin now in his sight. He’d planned to get ice-cream, not chat up the fuckboy from Woojin’s dance club.

“I try my best,” Jihoon replies.

Thankfully, Woojin is in reasonable distance so Jihoon just flings the popsicle at his friend, which lands nicely on his back. Woojin lifts his head, ready to kill Jihoon, then freezes when he sees who Jihoon is with.

Help me, Jihoon mouths, side-eyeing Daniel, who has been chattering about something he’s long lost interest in.

“Oh, hi Woojin!” Daniel smiles, waving at Woojin.

Woojin nods awkwardly, offering a wave back.

“I’ll see you around, I guess,” Daniel says when Jihoon gets back to Woojin’s side. 

“Yup,” Jihoon offers weakly.

Daniel jogs off, joining his friend group again.

“My God,” Woojin marvels as Jihoon tears open his ice-cream packet, and realises he’s gotten chocolate, not vanilla. Damn it, was he so desperate to get away from Kang Daniel he messed up his ice-cream choices? 

“Did fuckboy just chat you up?”

“Can we stop calling him that?” Jihoon hisses, remembering how he’d accidentally blurted it out in front of Daniel himself earlier.

“Hey!” another familiar voice interrupts Jihoon, and he freezes.

Lo and behold, it’s Kang Daniel, jogging back to Jihoon and Woojin.

“I never got your name,” Daniel smiles. 

“Oh,” Jihoon replies dumbly. “I’m Jihoon.”

“Jihoon,” Daniel repeats. “I like that.”

Woojin coughs awkwardly while looking out into the distance, and Jihoon knows his friend is sending him a telepathic message, _“fuckboy!”_

“I’m Daniel,” Daniel continues. “Do you want to come play with my friends and I?”

“Actually, Woojin and I-“

“Jihoon would love to,” Woojin jumps in. “I have to look for Daehwi, so please entertain Jihoon for a moment, please?”

Jihoon immediately glares at his friend, mouthing, “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Sure,” Daniel grins at the good news. “Come on, Jihoon.”

_Does he ever stop smiling?_

“I can’t play,” Jihoon says, “I’m uh… allergic to sunlight.”

“He is not,” Woojin insists. “He’s just allergic to physical activities. Please, take him away.”

With that, Daniel bends down to grab Jihoon’s wrist.

“Don’t be shy,” Daniel pleads. “We need one more person in our team. I’ll protect you, please? You won’t even have to touch the ball.”

Jihoon knows puppy eyes when he sees one, and he’s very sure that Kang Daniel is using his puppy eyes on him right now.

His gaze shifts between Daniel’s pleading gaze and Woojin’s innocent smile.

“Fine,” Jihoon sighs. “If I get hit by the ball, I’m suing.”

“I’ll be your lawyer,” Daniel confirms, pulling Jihoon up by his wrist.

_Damn, he’s strong._

“Enjoy,” Woojin waves Jihoon goodbye.

Jihoon hopes Woojin shoves his words up his ass one day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hence begins the start of a mess of a summer break!
> 
> this is just a sneak peak beginning stuff happens next chapter onwards whoops!
> 
> do let me know if you're liking this au in the comments or just your thoughts about the chapter in general :D
> 
> otherwise, take care until the next update! <3


	2. volleyball matches and bad ideas

Jihoon can count the number of friends he talks to on a weekly basis with one hand. Counting Woojin and Daehwi, of course. He doesn’t have socializing problems, he has people problems. To befriend Jihoon, you have to understand that he has a strange sense of humour. 

Not many people appreciate insults being thrown at their face every day – Jihoon is just lucky enough to meet someone as sarcastic as Park Woojin, and as sweet as Daehwi to not take offence.

Jihoon hates meeting new people. It’s tiring, exhausting, and too much of a bother to introduce himself all over again to people he will probably never talk to again.

“This is my bro,” Daniel introduces Jihoon to a tall boy who jogs over with the volleyball in his hand. “Seongwoo, this is Jihoon.”

 _Refers to friends as ‘bro’_ , Jihoon notes. Woojin is definitely right about Kang Daniel being a fuckboy.

“He’s Woojin’s friend,” Daniel explains, when Jihoon doesn’t say anything. “He’s going to be here for the summer.”

“Woojin?” Seongwoo choruses. “Woojin from dance?”

“That same Woojin,” Daniel replies. He turns to Jihoon, “Have you played volleyball before?”

“I haven’t stepped out of the house in a month,” Jihoon quips, remembering how he’d spent the last month in college cooped up either in the library or his dorm room, trying to finish his final reports. 

Daniel giggles, which Jihoon doesn’t think is very fuckboy like but Seongwoo smiles anyway, and Jihoon thinks, “Thank God, someone who doesn’t get put off by my humour.”

_Yet._

“It’s easy,” Daniel says, demonstrating how to receive the ball by stretching both of his hands out. Seongwoo tosses the ball to Daniel, and he receives it with a loud ‘pang’. Jihoon winces, it looks like it’s going to hurt. “You’ll get the hang of it.”

“I doubt it,” Jihoon mutters. 

He looks around for Woojin, who just happens to be nowhere in sight. _Nice_ , Jihoon sighs in his mind. Woojin knows he hates physical activities and new people – and he’s left Jihoon to fend for himself in an ugly crossover between the two.

Daniel seems to notice Jihoon hesitating, and leans down to match his eye level. 

“If you really don’t want to play, it’s okay,” Daniel quickly says. “I’m sorry for pressuring you. We can play with one less player, it doesn’t matter. If you’re not comfortable…”

Great, now Jihoon feels like a jerk.

“No,” he manages a smile. “I’ll play with you guys. Just don’t blame me when we lose.”

Satisfied that Jihoon looks okay, Daniel’s finally grinning again.

“Don’t worry, you look like a natural. Come on, game’s starting.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon doesn’t want to blame Daniel for giving him a false sense of ego when he’d said Jihoon looked like a natural at volleyball. It’s Jihoon’s own fault for thinking he could magically become a pro at a game he’s never played in his life. 

He fails miserably, and tries to avoid the ball whenever the opposing team looks like they’re playing too aggressively. Daniel tries to keep to his word to protect Jihoon from the ball, but even then, Daniel isn’t a superhero with four arms.

“You okay?” Daniel comes up to Jihoon when he receives a ball, but hits it out of the court. Daniel notices Jihoon’s arm turning red, and says, “Maybe you should take a rest.”

“I’m fine,” Jihoon clenches his teeth, not wanting to appear weak.

“Half-time,” Daniel calls out to the court regardless. The teams disperse and Daniel pulls Jihoon to a beach canopy where he’s placed his things at. 

“You want a drink?” Daniel offers. “It’s on me.”

The sound of a free drink sounds very tempting in this hot weather, but Jihoon isn’t that much of a glutton to receive free drinks from someone he barely knows. He shakes his head, and watches Daniel chug down a bottle of water and gulps.

Maybe he is a little thirsty.

“Here,” Daniel says, handing Jihoon a bottle of water. “Drink up, I don’t want you to get dehydrated. And don’t just stand there, sit down with me.”

Jihoon doesn’t want to reject Daniel’s kind gesture, so he accepts the bottle and sits down. He puts a little distance between them.

“So,” Daniel begins. “How did you know Woojin?”

“From the start or from when I remember?” Jihoon replies.

“Both,” Daniel grins, teeth showing.

“My latest recollection of Woojin is him shoving me into a swimming pool and almost drowning me when we were five,” Jihoon says after a few gulps of water. “But according to my mother, we became friends when we were already in diapers. We were drinking from the same milk bottle, so.”

“That’s so cool,” Daniel gushes, although Jihoon doesn’t really know what is so ‘cool’ about being forced to become friends with Woojin from Day 1. “I don’t really keep in touch with my friends back home anymore.”

“Where were you from?” Jihoon asks, which surprises himself.

 _See_ , he tells himself. _Not so hard to have a normal conversation with a stranger, is it?_

“Busan,” Daniel says, with pride. “It’s been five years since I moved here. I guess I kind of lost contact with some of my friends back home.”

“Right,” Jihoon hums. “Kind of like trying to maintain a long-distance relationship, doesn’t really work out unless both parties put in effort.”

When Daniel explodes into a fit of giggles, Jihoon doesn’t understand. He wasn’t even trying to be funny.

“What?” he asks, watching Daniel try to catch his breath.

“I-I don’t know,” Daniel says through breaths. “It was just s-so funny. H-how you compared it to a relationship.”

Jihoon waits for Daniel to calm down.

“You sound experienced,” Daniel comments once he stops. 

“I am not,” Jihoon insists, going red at the thought. “You might be, though.”

 _Nice_ , Jihoon complements himself. Slipping in some trick questions for him to find the answer to the ongoing question: **Is Kang Daniel a fuckboy?** Woojin would be proud of him.

Daniel barely glances at Jihoon before saying, “Yeah. They never last, though.”

A bulb in Jihoon’s head lights up immediately. 

Has relationships that don’t last = fuckboy. _Confirmed._

“Come on,” Daniel stands up and dusts the sand off his pants. “Want to keep on playing?”

Jihoon doesn’t know what he’s thinking, maybe he isn’t. 

Still, he smiles and says, “Charges will still be pressed if I get hurt.”

“Aye aye, captain.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sun is setting when the game ends, and Jihoon’s team loses 2 to 3 sets. Not too shabby, for a first-time player like him. (Daniel may have hard carried the entire team, but that’s not the story Jihoon is going to tell Woojin.)

Speaking of which, Woojin is back. He has the nerve to blow a kiss at Jihoon.

“Thanks for playing with us today,” Daniel tells Jihoon, who is too busy flipping Woojin off to realise that Daniel’s walking towards him. “You might actually be a natural at this.”

“Next thing you know I’m at the Olympics,” Jihoon replies, tossing the ball back to Daniel.

“Do you want to get dinner?” Daniel suggests. “I know a good burger place down the road. It’s cheap, too.”

Playing a beach volleyball game is one thing – but getting dinner is another.

Jihoon side-eyes Woojin, who is still waiting for him with his arms crossed. How does he reject someone without making them feel bad?

“I can’t,” Jihoon says. “I’m having dinner with Woojin.”

“Woojin can come along,” Daniel doesn’t give up.

Jihoon searches his head for a way out. It’s not that he doesn’t like Daniel, but having dinner on the first meeting is intruding way too much into his private space. 

“Woojin’s mom is cooking,” Jihoon remembers. “I don’t want to trouble her.”

“Alright then,” Daniel scratches the nape of his neck awkwardly. “I’ll see you around hopefully?”

“Hopefully,” Jihoon agrees, and they shake on it. “Thanks for the water, by the way!”

“Be careful,” Daniel calls out while Jihoon is walking away. “The first time people meet is coincidence, the next time is fate!”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” Jihoon mutters under his breath while smiling and waving goodbye to Daniel, who is jogging back to his friend group. When he meets Woojin, his smile droops immediately.

“Fuckboy?” is all Woojin says.

“Highly accurate hypothesis, I must say,” Jihoon replies. At least Woojin has the decency to hand him a vanilla cone. He shouldn’t be eating before dinner, but he’s sure he’ll be able to stomach dinner anyway. 

“Please elaborate,” Woojin says, walking beside Jihoon.

“First of all, kept his shirt off the entire time,” Jihoon reminds Woojin. 

Woojin hums in response.

“Second, addresses all his close friends by ‘bro’.”

“Oh, hell,” Woojin sighs.

“Third, says he has many relationships but they don’t last.”

“No way!”

“Yes way,” Jihoon says, finishing his vanilla cone in three big bites. “Lastly, bad pickup lines. Like really bad. Something about coincidence and fate or something like that. I’m 95% sure Daehwi shouldn’t date him.”

“What about the other 10%?”

“He’s nice,” Jihoon offers unhelpfully.

“All fuckboys are nice when you first meet them,” Woojin says like Jihoon’s supposed to know all this. “It’s in their DNA. You just like him because you probably got free food from him.”

“I don’t like him!” Jihoon protests. “And it was just a bottle of water.”

“Point proven,” Woojin says. “Let’s have dinner, and then we can discuss about this amazing idea I came up with when I was hanging out with Daehwi and Jinyoung while you were with the fuckboy.”

Jihoon doesn’t have time to tell Woojin that he’s the reason Jihoon had to socialize and work out. The warning signs come up in his head when Woojin says “amazing plan” but Jihoon brushes it off. Dinner smells too heavenly and Woojin’s fantastic idea can wait.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“So,” Woojin announces mysteriously after Jihoon emerges from the bathroom, still towelling his hair. “I have a plan.”

“Count me out,” Jihoon quickly replies. Woojin’s plans never have any good coming out of them. Jihoon doesn’t have enough fingers to count how many times he’s gotten into trouble because of Woojin’s “fantastic” plans. More often than hot, he finds himself in a mess he doesn’t know how to get out of.

“Just hear me out,” Woojin whines, and Jihoon relents, plopping onto Woojin’s bed and picking up one of the comics Woojin had been reading.

“All you have to do is become friends with Kang Daniel,” Woojin points out.

Jihoon slams the comic book down on the bed.

“Why would I do that?” he snaps.

“For Daehwi,” Woojin pleads. “He’s really into Daniel, but I can’t just sit back and watch my younger brother get hurt by a potential fuckboy. On the other hand, I’m also not sure if he’s really a fuckboy so-“

“So you want me to be the guinea pig,” Jihoon completes his sentence. “Why don’t you do it instead?”

“I’ve been ignoring him and his friends for the past half year,” Woojin reasons, kicking his legs up in the air out of frustration. “It’ll be weird if I suddenly act all friendly with them, wouldn’t it?”

Jihoon doesn’t have a good enough argument to refute that. But still, he doesn’t know why he has to be the one to do all of this; even if it’s for Daehwi.

“Besides,” Woojin says, like he can read Jihoon’s mind. “He looks like he likes you and wants to be friends with you. It’ll be easier for him to show his true colours around people he likes.”

“Let me get this straight,” Jihoon sighs, turning around to lie down on his stomach. “You want me to infiltrate into their friend group and investigate the fuckboy level of this Kang Daniel guy.”

“Yes!” Woojin says excitedly at the possibility of Jihoon agreeing. “It’ll be like a secret mission! We could call it Operation Fuckboy.”

“We are _not_ calling it Operation Fuckboy,” Jihoon sighs, already knowing this is a terrible idea.

He shoots Woojin’s suggestion down. “What makes you think we’ll meet again? This town is large, we may not even bump into him anymore.”

“Well,” Woojin wriggles his eyebrows, “Let’s just leave it up to fate, shall we?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon neither agrees to nor reject’s Woojin’s suggestion, he just keeps it at the back of his head. Days pass, and it looks like Kang Daniel isn’t going to appear in front of him again. Woojin seems a little upset, but Jihoon is relieved.

His honeymoon period lasts shorter than he thought it would.

“So, fate finally brings us together again,” a voice interrupts Jihoon’s heated debate with Woojin: **are ghosts real?** Jihoon argues _yes_ , because he’s seen one. Woojin argues _no_ , because he’s never seen one. Jihoon’s heart grows heavy – he recognises that voice.

He mouths a “shut up” to Woojin, who is already shooting him a telling smile. 

It’s Daniel, thankfully wearing a shirt this time, with another of his friend. Jihoon’s already forgotten his name, was is Seongwoo? Or Sungwoon? 

“Oh, hey,” Jihoon replies. _Real smooth._

“Woojin brought you here before I did,” Daniel comments, looking at the burgers on their tables, still untouched because they were too caught up in the moment. “Do you not like the burgers?”

Jihoon’s mind works fast – and then he remembers, Daniel had offered to bring him to some burger place the first time they’d met. 

“No,” Jihoon quickly answers, and takes a bite out of his burger to prove it. “Yum! We were just talking about ghosts.”

“Which aren’t real, by the way,” Woojin cuts in.

“Ghosts are real,” Daniel interrupts, drawing stares from Jihoon and Woojin. “I’ve seen one.”

An awkward silence passes between them, and Jihoon can practically feel Woojin’s stare piercing into his head.

“Right!” Daniel’s friend, who Jihoon still can’t remember the name of, jumps in to save the day. “Niel and I will be heading down to this food festival down the road this afternoon. Do you guys want to join us?”

 _No!_ Jihoon thinks, but Woojin is unfortunately, faster.

“I can’t, I’m working,” Woojin fakes a disappointed expression, then turns to Jihoon. “I’m sure Jihoon would appreciate something to do while I’m away.”

“That sounds great!” Daniel jumps in, happy again. “I could show you around!”

“I’m not really-“ Jihoon begins as he steps on Woojin’s foot under the table as a signal to shut the fuck up.

“Don’t be shy!” Daniel interrupts. “It’ll be fun, like a carnival!”

“We’ll take care of Jihoon for you,” Daniel’s friend says to Woojin, who nods gratefully at them.

“Make sure he doesn’t get lost,” Woojin smiles. “He has a tendency to follow strangers who offer him free food.”

Daniel seems to think that it’s hilarious, because he doubles over and starts slapping his friend on the back for support. His friend, to say the least, looks like he’s used to this.

“Don’t worry,” Daniel’s friend nods knowingly at Daniel. “Niel will keep him safe, I’m sure.”

If Daniel had ears, they would perk up right now. 

“Sure I will!” he agrees, slinging a friendly arm around Jihoon’s neck, almost choking him. Daniel doesn’t know the extent of his strength, Jihoon notes. “You can finish your lunch first, and then we’ll pick you up. Seongwoo’s just here to get his coffee, anyway.”

“Okay,” Jihoon says weakly, with no escape now. 

They wave goodbye and go to the counter for food and Jihoon finally lifts his foot off Woojin’s shoe.

“I never agreed to this,” Jihoon hisses, munching into his burger.

“It’s not like you have anything to do while I’m at work,” Woojin shrugs. “Who knows? You could meet a cute boy at the carnival. Just make sure you bring back some information for me.”

_Right, the secret mission._

“Does Daehwi know you’re doing this?” Jihoon wonders. 

“Course not,” Woojin smiles. “He would murder me.”

“Then why am I-“ Jihoon begins, then gives up. There’s no use arguing with Woojin right now. His only option is to give in to fate and hope that this doesn’t go as bad he thinks it will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly idk if this is slowburn or i'm just dragging out the chapters...
> 
> it's meant to be a lighthearted story after i finished twc i hope you guys are okay with this!! not much of a complicated plot but i just thought i should take a little break with hard to understand plots!!!
> 
> anyway!! thank u all for always loving whatever i come up with it's honestly overwhelming and i appreciate you all so much :)
> 
> until the next update <3


	3. star signs and carnivals

“ _Jihoon_ ,” Woojin stomps on his foot, causing him to let out a little squeak. “Stop being so nervous.”

Jihoon almost chokes on his burger, eyes shifting from Daniel and his chocolate ice-cream to his best friend sitting opposite him. He opens his mouth to yell at Woojin for hurting him, then realises he’s been shaking his leg the entire while.

“I’m not,” Jihoon protests softly, taking another bite out of his burger. 

“You have it written all over your face,” Woojin sighs. He lowers his voice, “Is something wrong?”

Jihoon’s throat feels tight, “No.”

Truth is, his nerves are a mess. Jihoon’s stomach is clenching in all the wrong ways and his chest feels really heavy. The burger doesn’t taste as good as when he first started eating it and he can’t help but feel his heart thumping hard at the thought of going out with a stranger.

Woojin takes one look at Jihoon and knows he’s lying. He follows Jihoon’s gaze to Daniel, who is still wolfing down his ice-cream and appears to be having a serious talk with Seongwoo. 

“Okay, nope,” Woojin says. “We’re going to have a little talk.”

Suddenly, Woojin stands up, grabs Jihoon’s wrist which makes him drop his burger and pulls him towards the washroom. Jihoon catches a glimpse of Daniel glancing at him on the way, and swallows his nervousness once again.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” Woojin says once they’re out of sight and Jihoon feels like they can finally breathe. “Is this about the date? You don’t want to do it? I’ll talk to them if you don’t want to.”

“It’s not a date,” Jihoon protests, then sighs when Woojin rolls his eyes. “It’s just about… new people.”

“You talked to Daniel and Seongwoo previously,” Woojin argues. 

“ _Still_ ,” Jihoon whines. 

“They’re not going to eat you up,” Woojin assures Jihoon. “Apart from my speculations of them being fuckboys, they’re completely harmless and nice during dance.”

Jihoon glares at Woojin, “Then why do I need to do this?”

“Okay, I’ll be honest,” Woojin confesses. “Half the reason was Daehwi. But I think you could use this summer vacation to actually meet some people. Never mind if you don’t like Daniel or Seongwoo, just have some fun at the carnival.”

Jihoon crosses his arms. Woojin does have a small point – and leave it to him to lay out the cold, hard facts for Jihoon. He’s always been more of a stay-at-home kind of person. He’s never been to any college parties, or attempted to talk to someone in his class. It’s always been Guanlin for lunch, Guanlin for a study session, just good old, comfortable Guanlin.

“I guess,” Jihoon lets out a breath. He feels better already.

“You’re going to kill it,” Woojin assures him by putting two hands on Jihoon’s shoulders. “And if at any point of time you really want to go home, give me a call and I’ll leave work for you.”

Finally, Jihoon smiles. 

“I knew you loved me, Park Woojin,” Jihoon teases.

“ _Yeah, yeah_ , Park Jihoon,” Woojin ruffles his hair. “Can we get out of this stuffy toilet now?”

Jihoon nods, and takes the lead, feeling a bit more confident this time. His confidence crashes to the ground when he comes face to face with Kang Daniel’s chest.

“Oh, hey,” Daniel greets them awkwardly, gaze shifting between Jihoon and Woojin. “You ready to go?”

Jihoon feels his throat tightening up again them remembers he has to at least try not to fuck this up. He puts on a smile, “Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Cool,” Daniel gives him a smile back. And Jihoon does have to say, Kang Daniel has a really pretty smile. It’s unfair how fuckboys have the cutest smiles. (Potential fuckboy, Jihoon corrects himself.) “Want to wait for me outside? I’ll be done quickly.”

“Sure,” Jihoon manages and lets Daniel pass through. 

“You did it,” Woojin cheers when they’re at a considerable distance from the washroom. 

“Not sure if I can keep this up for hours,” Jihoon admits. He’s already starting to break out in cold sweat again. Maybe he isn’t as confident as he thinks he is.

“Listen to me,” Woojin says when they take a seat again. “You’re funny, and a tad bit sarcastic at times. But you’re fun to be with, and people are absolutely out of their minds if they don’t want to be friends with you.”

It feels a little weird for Woojin to be showering him with compliments instead of insults, but Jihoon appreciates it. Before he can come up with a witty response to Woojin’s pep talk, Daniel’s deep voice interrupts them.

“Should we get going?” Daniel asks.

“Yeah,” Woojin agrees. “I’m running a little late for work. Take care of him for me.”

To Jihoon, he teases, “Don’t run off with strangers who have candy.”

Jihoon only has time to stick out his tongue at Woojin before his friend gives him a quick pat on the shoulder and runs out of the diner and leaves him alone with Daniel. And of course, his friend.

Who is nowhere to be seen.

“Seongwoo left early,” Daniel explains, like he can read Jihoon’s mind. “He’s going to meet us there with another friend, if that’s okay with you.”

Great, Jihoon thinks internally. Yet another person he’ll have to introduce himself to.

Still, he forces a smile, “That’s fine. We should get going, lead the way.”

Jihoon can’t say his heart doesn’t skip a strange beat when Daniel holds the door open for him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“ _Niel_ ,” Seongwoo hisses when they’re walking away from Jihoon and Woojin. If Daniel had ears, they would be cowering in fear and embarrassment at what Seongwoo is implying right now. He’s sure his face is already bright red from the tell-tale signs anyway.

“Hyung,” Daniel protests. “Just get your coffee and let me be.”

Seongwoo sighs, and joins the queue. Daniel decides he could do with an ice-cream.

“You think he’s cute,” Seongwoo states nonchalantly after collecting their orders.

Daniel almost chokes on thin air, and quickly whips his head back to see if any of the two boys heard Seongwoo, but they seem to be caught up in their conversation again. He slaps Seongwoo’s shoulder for good measure, but doesn’t use any strength, because that turned out really bad the previous time.

“Is he not?” Daniel says, taking a bite of his ice-cream.

“That’s your problem, Niel,” Seongwoo rubs his temples after taking a sip of his coffee. “You’re an awesome guy. But you get too excited and friendly around new people easily.”

Daniel pouts, _how is that a problem?_

“And you catch feelings too easily,” Seongwoo sighs. He fixes his eyes on Daniel when he says the next words, “You _think_ you catch feelings.”

“That’s not true,” Daniel sulks.

“Daniel,” Seongwoo says like he’s talking to a five-year-old. “You thought you were in love with me. You thought you were in love with my boyfriend. When in fact, you just enjoyed being friends with us.”

Okay, maybe that part was true. Seongwoo never fails to remind Daniel about the times he’s confessed to both Seongwoo and Minhyun about his “feelings” only to realize after a long talk that he’s just in love with the idea of being in love.

“What are you trying to say?” Daniel asks.

“I’m just saying,” Seongwoo continues. “Just take things slow, okay? This Jihoon guy looks nice, take your time to know him and decide if you really like him or just the idea of having someone to pour your love and affection onto.”

“You think I should ask him about his star sign?”

Daniel guesses by Seongwoo’s groan that the answer is: no.

He decides he’s going to take this slow; unlike all of his previous relationships. It’s embarrassing, really, to have so many of his relationships fail because of his overwhelming need for love and affection from someone else. 

Daniel hears Jihoon yelping in pain, and turns around immediately to Jihoon.

He only sees Woojin standing up, and grabbing Jihoon’s wrist while pulling him somewhere else. Daniel doesn’t deny that he does feel a stab of jealousy in his heart. 

Sighing, he bangs his head against the table once.

Seongwoo is right, he does have a serious problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I’m going to pick Minhyun up from work,” Seongwoo announces to Daniel, who still has his gaze fixed on the closed washroom door. It’s been five minutes, and neither Woojin nor Jihoon has left. 

What could be so important that they needed to spend such a long time in there?

“Wait,” Daniel pulls Seongwoo back. “You’re leaving me alone?”

“You’ll do fine,” Seongwoo assures. “Talk to him like a friend, not like a boyfriend. Just… skip all the cheesy lines you learnt off the internet. Get to know him, okay? I’ll see you at the carnival if you need any help. Minhyun’s going to bite my ass off if I’m late again. And I don’t mean it in the good way.”

“Okay,” Daniel relents, knowing how pissy Minhyun gets with tardiness. “See you later, hyung.”

Seongwoo gives Daniel a sympathetic smile that he can only infer as a form of encouragement. Daniel gains confidence from that, and decides to see for himself what the two can be doing alone in the washroom. 

Once he pushes the door open, he feels Jihoon’s head bump against his chest. Thank God, Jihoon pulls away immediately; or he would have heard his embarrassingly fast thumping chest.

“Oh, hey,” he greets them, hoping they can’t sense the awkwardness. “You ready to go?”

When Jihoon smiles, it’s like rainbows after a storm. Daniel has to mentally stop himself from saying that out loud.

Thankfully, Jihoon says, “Yeah” and Daniel tells him that they’ll meet outside. 

Once the two are out of the washroom, Daniel pauses to catch his breath. Why didn’t he put in any effort to look good today? His hair is in a mess, and he sure as hell isn’t going to impress anyone in this boring outfit of his.

“Get it together, Kang Daniel.”

He’s definitely going to be cool, charismatic and tone down the talk about stars and the night sky. Not like Jihoon is interested to know, and Daniel definitely does not need to bombard him with questions about his star sign.

_Not today, nerd._

 

 

 

 

 

 

“So… what’s your star sign?”

Jihoon almost chokes on his drink, wondering if he’d heard the right thing coming out of Kang Daniel’s mouth. 

“I’m sorry?” Jihoon blinks once.

“Your star sign,” Daniel explains. “Like… I’m a Sagittarius.”

He heard it right the first time. Daniel wasn’t asking him for his number, or anything remotely related to being a fuckboy. Daniel is asking him about his star sign, like those things he’s seen on social media.

“Um… it was the one that starts with a G? I’m not too big on these, so I only looked it up once. I was born on May 29, if that helps.”

“Gemini, then!” Daniel offers happily. “That’s so interesting!”

Honest to God, Jihoon hasn’t known Daniel for a long time, but he thinks this is the happiest he’s seen Daniel look. It’s kind of cute, actually, that someone like him would get so excited over something like star signs. Jihoon would never peg him as that sort.

“Oh, am I turning you off?” Daniel notices Jihoon’s longer than usual silence. “Sorry… I know many people don’t know much about star signs. I’m just being super nerdy about it, ignore me.”

The warm, happy vibe from Daniel suddenly shuts down completely and Jihoon feels terrible.

“Don’t stop,” Jihoon says.

Daniel lifts his gaze from the ground, “Huh?”

“I mean, keep talking. I’m interested to know,” Jihoon explains. “I’m just… not the best at conversations, but I think it’s really cool how you’re interested in star signs. Tell me more, please.”

Daniel looks a little sheepish at Jihoon’s response. 

“It’s an Astrology major thing,” Daniel admits. “But I could tell you more, if you’re interested.”

Jihoon’s eyes widen in surprise, “You’re an Astrology major?”

“A proud one at that,” Daniel confesses, putting a hand over his right chest.

“That’s so cool,” Jihoon marvels. He decides there is a small flaw and his and Woojin’s fuckboy hypothesis. Right now, Daniel absolutely does not look the type. At all. 

Jihoon usually gets tired after listening to people talk about a topic he can’t offer an opinion in, but this time, strangely, he doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he’s starting to find himself smile a little more naturally when Daniel tells him about the key characteristics of each signs, and the misunderstandings of each one.

Jihoon doesn’t miss the pink blush that greets Daniel’s cheeks when he starts to talk about the ways their star signs are compatible with each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Niel,” Jihoon hears someone calling out Daniel’s name and he finally remembers to tear his gaze away from the boy. The neon lights from food stalls and colourful displays of rides around him finally remind him that he’s at a carnival.

How did time pass so fast listening to Daniel talk about star signs?

Before Jihoon has the time to be embarrassed, he recognises Daniel’s friend, Seongwoo, come up to them with another similarly good-looking boy in his arms. 

_Maybe it’s a fuckboy thing, to have friends who are equally good looking as he is._

“Are you telling this poor boy about star signs again?” the boy that Jihoon doesn’t recognises shoots Jihoon a sympathetic smile. “I’m Minhyun.”

“Jihoon,” Jihoon greets him easily. It’s either because Minhyun looks like he’s easy to talk to, or Jihoon is getting better at talking to people. He turns to Daniel, “He wasn’t boring me, it was actually really interesting to listen to.”

The radiant smile that Daniel gives Jihoon makes something stir in his chest.

Minhyun and Seongwoo exchange suspicious looks.

“If you’ll excuse us,” Seongwoo announces dramatically while tightening his grip around Minhyun. “We have couple things to do.”

Minhyun only rolls his eyes and turns to Jihoon, “I’ll see you around, then.”

Seongwoo proceeds to pull Minhyun away from Daniel, while waving goodbye.

“Leos and Virgos are not compatible!” Daniel yells at Seongwoo childishly, eliciting a giggle from Jihoon.

“And _yet_ you are the single one,” Seongwoo shouts back, earning himself a harsh poke in the ribs from Minhyun. 

“Are they really not compatible?” Jihoon asks, watching Seongwoo and Minhyun walk away. Anyone can tell the two are different, but there’s no denying the two are hopelessly in love with one another.

“Nope,” Daniel quips cheerfully, leading Jihoon ahead of the crowd. “There’s so much more to life and relationships than star signs.”

And fuck if that doesn’t make butterflies swarm in Jihoon’s stomach.

When Jihoon looks around him, he realises he’s been tricked.

Into lining up for the humongous Viking ship ride.

“Kang Daniel,” he hisses, not bothering to conceal his true identity anymore. “You scammed me.”

Daniel, though, doesn’t seem to mind it at all. 

“Relax,” he assures Jihoon while slinging an arm around his shoulder. “You can hold my hand if you get scared.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel is disappointed, not only because Jihoon didn’t take him up on the offer to hold his hand, but also because it looks like Jihoon had more fun on the ride than him. In fact, he’s feeling a little queasy after the ride, and it’s been thirty minutes.

Jihoon though, is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. He’s pulling Daniel around to all the different rides and squealing with happiness on each one.

“Wait,” Daniel stops Jihoon before he drags them onto another ride – and this one is called The Beast, which tells Daniel he probably should stop Jihoon before he actually throws up on their first…

What even is this? It’s not a date, Daniel tells himself.

Their first hangout, he decides.

“Are you hungry?” he asks Jihoon, who looks too excited and energetic for someone who has sat on three rides. “I’ll buy you something to eat.”

“Hm…” Jihoon looks around. “Churros.”

“Deal,” Daniel breathes a sigh of relief, and allows Jihoon to run off and find them a seat while he goes to buy the churros.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon is starting to feel himself slowly let lose. Maybe it was the first ride that got rid of his nerves, or maybe it was the next two rides, but he’s slowly letting himself let go of the nervousness and start being comfortable around Daniel, like a friend.

He realises he’s been like this with very few people, so it’s still pretty foreign to him when Daniel walks back to him with churros in his hands, and offers Jihoon some of his drink as well.

“Yuck,” Jihoon cringes after taking a sip out of Daniel’s cup. “What is that?”

“Beer,” Daniel blinks innocently.

 _Of course, beer._ The epitome of every fuckboy’s legacy.

“It’s gross,” Jihoon admits, handing the cup back to Daniel, who can’t seem to stop laughing at Jihoon’s reaction to alcohol.

“I thought you would have known how to take alcohol,” Daniel explains after calming down. “Has Woojin ever drank with you?”

“Woojin drinks?” Jihoon asks, half surprised, half shocked. He’s never seen Woojin drink a drop of alcohol. Heck, he’s never even heard his best friend mention alcohol to him once. 

“Just a little,” Daniel replies, looking sheepish for revealing something that Jihoon doesn’t know about Woojin yet. “I’ve seen him drink sometimes at parties, but not enough to get drunk. You know, just to have enough fun.”

“Right,” Jihoon mumbles. Suddenly, he doesn’t feel so good. That’s Woojin, alright. Always knowing how to have fun, and how to make an impression on new people. “Of course, parties.”

“Don’t like them?” Daniel probes, munching on his churros.

“Not much,” Jihoon admits. “Lots of people I don’t know, it makes me a little anxious and scared, I guess?”

He doesn’t know why he’s revealing so much to someone he barely knows. 

“I know how that feels,” Daniel agrees. “Sometimes, I don’t want to be there. I would much rather be at home and watching the night sky. Oops, that sounded really nerdy, didn’t it? Seongwoo warned me not to say that.”

Jihoon laughs, it’s refreshing – how charming Kang Daniel can be.

“Now that I know you’re an Astrology major, it doesn’t sound as nerdy,” Jihoon admits, which makes Daniel smile as well.

He feels a little better about himself knowing that Daniel relates to him, dusts his hands of crumbs, and rises to his feet.

“So… are we ready to conquer The Beast?”

Jihoon doesn’t miss the way Daniel’s eyes quiver in fear, which just makes him laugh even harder. He doesn’t know where he gets the next burst of confidence from when he grabs Daniel’s wrist.

“Relax,” he looks straight into Daniel’s eyes. “You can hold my hand if you get scared.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel doesn’t know if he should have taken Jihoon’s word for it.

The whole _you can hold my hand if you’re scared thing._

This is only their second time hanging out, and Daniel really shouldn’t be wanting to hold the other boy’s hands. But he’s terribly attracted to the way Jihoon screams for joy on the roller coaster and also, he’s a little scared.

His scream catches in his throat when he glances at Jihoon sitting beside him.

With the strong wind messing up his usually neat hair, Daniel thinks he looks very beautiful like this.

And he decides to fuck it all, abandon Seongwoo’s and Minhyun’s advices many times over to not be over friendly with new people, and grabs Jihoon’s hand. 

His hands are a little rough, different from what Daniel had expected. Maybe Jihoon plays an instrument; he’ll have to ask later. Still, it’s nice when Jihoon laughs at their intertwined hands and squeezes it tight. Daniel doesn’t care if he looks like a wimp in front of Jihoon right now. They’re holding hands, and that’s really all that matters right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon didn’t expect Daniel to take his word for it. He was just kidding, really, challenging Daniel by using his own words against him. He was only trying to tease Daniel for being the coward when he had offered Jihoon his hand first.

_So why did his heart beat so fast when Daniel actually held his hand?_

It wasn’t supposed to mean anything, and it still doesn’t mean anything to Jihoon, he thinks.

It’s almost evening when they get off The Beast. Maybe it’s the mysterious way with how time passes so fast at a carnival, or it’s the way Daniel makes him so comfortable, he doesn’t take note of the time passing.

Either way, Jihoon is starting to change his mind about Kang Daniel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You really don’t have to walk me home,” Jihoon protests for the fifth time on the way home. Daniel had insisted at the carnival when Jihoon said he had to be home for dinner. And Jihoon had refused. 

“What kind of friend would I be to Woojin if I didn’t see this through?” Daniel replies good-naturedly. “Also, it’s getting dark. Wouldn’t want you wandering alone at night, this place gets dangerous sometimes.”

“I don’t recall being the one holding hands and screaming for his dear life on the ride,” Jihoon quips. 

Thankfully, Daniel doesn’t take offence to that.

That’s another good thing about Daniel. He doesn’t take offence to anything Jihoon says, even if he’s being dead sarcastic. Daniel laughs it off all the time.

“Roller coasters and bad people are two different things,” Daniel attempts to explain.

They continue to walk in silence in the direction of Woojin’s home before Daniel breaks the silence again.

“It was fun, you know,” Daniel says. “Hanging out with you. I’m either stuck being the third wheel with Seongwoo and Minhyun hyung or having to be with people I barely know.”

Jihoon fiddles with his fingers and hopes Daniel doesn’t notice.

“You have a lot of friends,” Jihoon shrugs.

If anyone should be complaining about their social circle, it’s going to be Jihoon.

“Not really,” Daniel mumbles, putting his hands in his pockets. “Everyone’s really friends with me because they’re friends with Seongwoo and Minhyun.”

And then Jihoon feels a little bit guilty. He shouldn’t be comparing his situation to Daniel, especially when he knows how it is feeling out of place in a group of friends.

“Not me,” Jihoon replies. “I was your friend before I was theirs, so.”

“You’re right,” Daniel smiles as he recalls. “You know… I was wondering if you secretly hated me.”

“Why would you think that?” Jihoon asks.

Inside, he knows why. He’d already created that stereotype of Daniel being a stereotype in his mind. Not to mention, Jihoon knows he has a resting bitch face, and cheery, friendly, Daniel had to be the recipient of that.

“Just because,” Daniel says vaguely, shrugging his shoulders.

“Is it okay if we grab lunch sometime?” Daniel asks, scratching the nape of his neck when they approach Woojin’s house. Jihoon doesn’t know if his senses are heightened every time he’s near, but he definitely smells Mrs Park’s cooking from down the road.

And then he registers Daniel’s question. Daniel is asking him out for lunch.

Inside, there should be warning signals going off. 

“Sure,” Jihoon says, surprising himself and Daniel. “Make sure you choose someplace good.”

Daniel grins, and holds out his hand.

“What?”

“Your phone,” Daniel explains.

“Oh,” Jihoon fumbles for his phone, and quickly places it into Daniel’s waiting palms.

Skilfully, Daniel types in his number and even calls himself so he receives Jihoon’s number as well. (He must have done this many times, the back of Jihoon’s mind tells him.)

“I’ll text you,” Daniel smiles. “Head on in.”

There’s a strange feeling in Jihoon’s chest when he waves Daniel away from the front door, and when Daniel shakes his head and motions for Jihoon to go in first. Finally, Jihoon relents and waves Daniel goodbye one last time before disappearing into the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Don’t fuck this up, _don’t_ fuck this up,” Daniel chants to himself as he lays on his bed with his phone in his hands.

Maybe he should call Seongwoo for some advice.

And then he remembers the last time Seongwoo had picked up at night, he had interrupted something very private between his two friends. He doesn’t think he can ever erase the sounds he’d heard that night.

Daniel settles on texting the more level-headed one of the two.

_To: Minhyun hyung_  
_I’m going to text Jihoon_

Minhyun doesn’t reply even after 10 minutes, and that is enough for Daniel to infer what he must be up to. He shudders.

This is a sign for him to take matters into his own hands.

With his fingers hovering over Jihoon’s name and number, he says a little prayer to the stars and sends the message.

 

 

 

 

 

 

_From: Daniel_  
_There are going to be many stars tonight, make sure you look out for them ><_

Jihoon almost chokes on his pasta when he checks the messages under the table. He prays he isn’t flushing an embarrassing sort of red. Woojin though, knows something is wrong. He narrows his eyes at Jihoon from across the table and gives him the look that tells Jihoon: we’ll talk later.

Jihoon racks his brain for a good enough reply, and quickly types one back, hoping it will suffice.

_To: Daniel_  
_What if I don’t see any?_

He’s sensitive to the text notification now. Bracing himself for whatever Daniel has in mind, he unlocks his phone and reads the text message.

_From: Daniel_  
_Then you can look at me._

Jihoon doesn’t hesitate to turn his phone off for the rest of the dinner.

Nope, he definitely doesn’t think Daehwi should date Kang Daniel. He's too dangerous. Especially for the softhearted. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Something happened,” Woojin says when he passes Jihoon into the shower.

“What?” Jihoon feigns innocence. “What happened?”

“If you want to talk about it,” Woojin shrugs and disappears into the bathroom.

Finally, Jihoon gets some private time. Slowly, he trudges to their bedroom window and looks outside.

Daniel was right – there are many stars in the sky tonight. They twinkle brightly, lighting up the once dark night sky. Unconsciously, Jihoon smiles to himself.

He makes a mental note to thank Daniel.

Because of Kang Daniel, the sky looks a lot more beautiful tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

_From: Jihoon_  
_You were right, the stars are very pretty tonight._

Daniel springs up from his position and rushes to his window, craning his neck out. He doesn’t even need his telescope to see the stars tonight – they are, indeed, shining very brightly.

He finds himself smiling, looking up at the stars.

Daniel doesn’t know why this time is so special. He’s looked at the stars countless times in this lifetime.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s because he knows a certain boy is looking up at the same night sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg ahhhh okay carnivals are so cliche but hey... fluffy nielwink who's complaining
> 
> genuinely hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! not sure if the development is okay but thank you guys always for reading and leaving me the sweetest comments.
> 
> writer's block is an a$$ but im trying my best to update regularly! stay tuned for more heh
> 
> do leave a comment if you liked this chapter!! <3
> 
> otherwise, take care until the next update :)


	4. skateboard lessons and exchanging deals

“Thing is,” Seongwoo pauses before he shrugs, “You’re like an overgrown, slobbering puppy.”

“Hyung!” Daniel whines, burying his face into his pillow. When he’d called his friends over for an “emergency intervention”, this wasn’t what he was looking for. He feels Minhyun patting his back, consoling him but even he doesn’t make a move to correct Seongwoo.

“Don’t be so mean,” Minhyun finally sighs and Daniel lifts his head at the newfound confidence.

“Why won’t he text me?” Daniel pouts, throwing his phone, but not so hard until it bounces off the bed. It lands nicely next to Seongwoo.

“Two things,” Seongwoo points out. “He’s not interested, or he’s waiting for you to text him first.”

Daniel hates to think that Seongwoo may have a point.

“I don’t know what to say,” Daniel sighs. 

“Didn’t seem that way when you were texting Minhyun behind my back,” Seongwoo points out, with no menace behind his words, and earns himself a glare from Minhyun. Daniel’s ears go red at the memory.

“Look, Niel. It’s kind of dumb to play this game,” Minhyun says. He is the voice the reason, the only reason Daniel still puts up with Seongwoo. He must have something good to contribute to Daniel’s dilemma. “Just text him first, see if he’s interested. See what happens after that. I’m sure he doesn’t hate you.”

“Hard to say,” Daniel mumbles.

Suddenly, Daniel’s phone chimes and he immediately reaches out for it.

“Whipped,” Seongwoo mutters under his breath while shaking his head in disapproval.

Unfortunately, it’s not Jihoon. 

It’s Woojin.

 

_From: Woojin (dance)_  
_Please come and take Jihoon away from my workplace. He is bothering me, thank u._

 

Woojin either knows Daniel has the biggest crush on his best friend or he’s too annoyed with Jihoon that he has to text Daniel – who he has barely talked to. Either way, Daniel is already on his feet and rummaging through his closet for some decent clothes.

“Shouldn’t we do something?” Minhyun nudges Seongwoo, who is just watching Daniel freak out about the lack of nice clothes he has in his closer. “He’s never been this way before.”

“Meh,” Seongwoo shrugs. “I say we let him do whatever he wants. He’s not a child, you know.”

“ _I’m still here_ ,” Daniel protests weakly, holding up a checkered flannel he hasn’t seen in months. “How does this look?”

“Fine,” Minhyun replies, and Daniel struggles to put it on. 

He ponders over what else to bring, then grabs his skateboard that’s leaning against his door.

“I wasn’t impressed,” Seongwoo points out. “Neither was Minhyun.”

Daniel thinks he hears Minhyun hiss please shut up and let Daniel do what he wants but decides to ignore it anyway. He’s pretty good at skateboarding – and even if he didn’t manage to impress both his friends, who’s to say Jihoon isn’t different?

“Good luck, Niel,” Minhyun calls out.

“Don’t make out on my bed,” is what Daniel says as a reply while grabbing everything he needs. He even sprays a bit of the perfume he’d gotten guilt-tripped into buying a few weeks ago. 

“No promises!” Seongwoo yells back, cackling.

Sometimes, Daniel hates his friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Woojin told Jihoon to get out of the house – he definitely didn’t mean _this_. Yet, here Jihoon is, in his workplace, and obviously taking advantage of the fact that Woojin is his best friend. Woojin would very much like to clock Jihoon in the face right now, but he’s forced to keep his hands to himself because his manager has hawk eyes.

And he would definitely not want one of his employees assaulting their customers, even if this particular customer has asked to sample all of the ice-cream flavours and still can’t make up his mind.

“Can I try the passion fruit flavour?” Jihoon asks, eyes-wide and looking anything but innocent to Woojin. 

Jihoon knows exactly which of Woojin’s buttons he should press, what exactly he should do to piss his friend off. It all comes down to the little things, the details, if you will.

Of course, Woojin puts on an equally fake smile while handing Jihoon a sample. Leaning in closer to Jihoon, he hisses, “Get out of here. You’re disrupting me from working.”

“Be nice to your customers,” Jihoon snaps back, making a big show of licking the ice-cream off the stick. It’s satisfying to see Woojin grow progressively more frustrated with him, so Jihoon just keeps up the innocent act.

The ice-cream shop bell chimes, but Jihoon pays no attention to it.

That is, until a familiar voice speaks up from behind.

“I’ll have a peach cone.”

Judging by the look on Woojin’s face, Jihoon knows he’s been set up. Angrily, he glares at Woojin, who is now batting his eyelashes at Jihoon as if to say oh how the tables have turned, Jihoonie.

“And whatever Jihoon’s getting is on me as well,” Daniel steps forward to pay Woojin, who has taken the liberty to give Jihoon a passionfruit cone, with an evil smile on his face. 

Of all people, Jihoon hadn’t expected Woojin to be the one to betray him, to throw him out to the big, bad wolves- 

Okay, maybe Daniel isn’t that bad. Jihoon can only manage a sheepish smile when Daniel hands him his passionfruit cone and thank him in a meek voice while Woojin quickly retreats to the kitchen, out of Jihoon’s sight.

“What are you doing here?” Jihoon eyes Daniel mysteriously, who looks like he’s enjoying his peach ice-cream a little too much. They find an empty table and settle down, which is exactly what Jihoon is dreading.

It’s been a few days since he’d last sent Daniel a message. Daniel hasn’t talked to him since then, and Jihoon decided to leave it as that. Trust Woojin to be the one to sell him out to Daniel first.

“It’s a hot day,” Daniel points out. “Can’t I have some ice-cream?”

“Okay…” Jihoon rolls his eyes at Daniel’s excuse. 

“Kidding, I was summoned by someone to take you out,” Daniel corrects himself, gazing in the specific direction of Woojin. “I’m going to the skatepark; do you want to come along? It’ll be really fun.”

No, Jihoon doesn’t really want to. Daniel is right, it’s a hot day. So why would anyone in the right mind want to go to a skateboard part? Especially when- okay, Jihoon is definitely not falling for Daniel’s puppy eyes.

“Um…” Jihoon mumbles.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Daniel decides, pulling Jihoon up and dragging him out the door, not even giving him time to say goodbye and fuck you to Woojin. He picks up his skateboard on the way out, and starts running, with Jihoon’s hand still in his.

Jihoon isn’t sure which one he hates more – the feeling of ice-cream dripping down your fingers, or the way his heart feels like it’s going to jump out of his chest.

 

 

“So… what have you been up to?” Daniel asks. 

Thank God, the sun isn’t shining as brightly as before so Jihoon doesn’t have to act like an absolute brat with Daniel. He’s starting to feel a little better, with the light breeze blowing. Woojin may have been right about some fresh air doing his body good.

“Nothing,” Jihoon shrugs. “Mostly listening to Daehwi complain about Jinyoung and hanging out in Woojin’s workplace.”

And then he remembers – _Daehwi._

He may as well do some research for Daehwi right now… shouldn’t he?

“What do you think about Daehwi?” Jihoon questions, careful to be casual about it.

“Daehwi?” Daniel echoes, running his fingers through his hair. “Woojin's stepbrother? He’s cute. I only met him properly once at our dance showcase months ago. He’s very different from Woojin. Meh, I don’t know.”

“Well they’re not exactly related,” Jihoon points out, making Daniel smile.

Jihoon feels a little bad for Daehwi – from what he’s observed, the little one seems to have such a huge crush on Daniel, while Daniel barely has an impression of Daehwi. He’s probably going to have to convince Daehwi otherwise about liking Daniel when he gets home tonight.

“We’re here,” Daniel interrupts his train of thoughts.

Jihoon doesn’t know what he should expect from a skatepark. 

“I’ll just watch you,” Jihoon suggests, taking a seat at a shady bench. 

“I’ll teach you later,” Daniel offers. “When there are fewer people. Deal?”

Jihoon hates trying new things, new experiences. But Daniel looks so excited about skateboarding, he just can’t bear to say no. He manages a small smile.

“Deal.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon hasn’t seen Daniel dance. But he imagines it would looks something very similar to the way he skateboards. He doesn’t just skate, he flies. Jihoon has no idea what a good skater would look like, but with the way Daniel is executing all the tricks, he’s sure that Daniel is better than average.

It’s fun to see Daniel interact with some of the other skaters in the park, the way he beams with happiness when others compliment him, and the way he turns to check if Jihoon is doing fine alone.

Suddenly, he hears muttering from behind him. At first, he doesn’t mind it, and keeps his eyes peeled on Daniel instead. Then he hears some phrases he just can’t get out of his mind.

Something like _“summer fling”_ or _“new boyfriend”_ and _“another one”_.

So, he turns around.

There are a group of six boys standing relatively close to where he’s sitting. He quickly averts his eyes, knowing he’ll get nothing out of staring at people.

“Sungwoon, leave him be,” a voice warns.

“I’m not going to do anything,” another voice, which Jihoon assumes must be Sungwoon replies nonchalantly. “I’m just going to talk to him, okay?”

There’s an uncomfortable silence that follows and Jihoon prays, please don’t be talking about me, please don’t be talking about-

“Hey.”

_Crap._

“Hi?” Jihoon greets the boy next to him. He looks scary, despite being a little smaller than Jihoon. Black hair, white shirt, light blue ripped jeans and an overall beautiful human. And that scares Jihoon more than it should.

“I’m Sungwoon,” he introduces himself, like Jihoon couldn’t hear the entire conversation with his friends. 

“Jihoon,” he replies. _Do people here have the habit of just introducing themselves to strangers on the street?_ Jihoon is definitely going to have to get used to that. 

“You look new,” Sungwoon observes.

“Um,” Jihoon stutters. “Yeah, here for the summer with my friend, Woojin.”

“That explains it,” Sungwoon nods. “And you know Daniel?”

_Was he obvious with the staring?_

“I saw you guys talking,” Sungwoon says, like he can read Jihoon’s mind.

“We’re friends,” Jihoon decides. “Woojin introduced us.”

“I know Daniel too,” Sungwoon replies, making sure to look up at Daniel, who has now noticed the two boys sitting together. Jihoon can’t really make out his facial expression from here, but he’s definitely not smiling anymore. “He’s my ex-boyfriend.”

“Oh.”

Jihoon doesn’t really know exactly what to say other than “oh”. It’s not like he’s surprised. Sungwoon is a very good-looking man, and so is Daniel. With the tension in the air, it’s a complete lie to say this piece of news takes him by shock. He’s just feeling a little… strange inside?

“Didn’t end very well,” Sungwoon informs. “I ended things.”

“Okay?” Jihoon doesn’t know what else to offer as a response. 

“The good thing about Daniel is that he makes you feel special,” Sungwoon smiles, as if he’s recalling the memories. Then his smile drops. “The problem? You find out he’s like that to everyone.”

The word “fuckboy” echoes in Jihoon’s brain but he refuses to think about it. He pushes it out of his mind. Woojin might have his conspiracy theories, and Jihoon might have his suspicions, and Sungwoon might be a first-hand witness, but somehow today, Jihoon wants to defend Daniel instead.

“Why don’t you get straight to the point?” Jihoon sighs, surprised at how curt he sounds.

The ends of Sungwoon’s lips curl to form a smile. 

“I think someone wants to talk to me,” Sungwoon announces, and Jihoon sees Daniel walking closer to them. Sungwoon stands up, “Good luck, and see you around.”

Jihoon wishes he could somehow unsee the way Sungwoon confidently struts up to Daniel, and the way he can still see Daniel crumbling from the inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel knows Sungwoon is going to approach Jihoon even before he does. He recognises the other man’s friend group from afar, but pretends to take no notice. He continues to keep a look out for Jihoon, and his heart drops when he sees Sungwoon taking a seat next to the other boy.

Jihoon looks visibly uncomfortable, and Daniel thinks he should step in to help. 

Sungwoon is saying something, and they make eye-contact. Sungwoon smiles, with no good intentions behind it, and then goes back to talking with Jihoon. 

Daniel doesn’t have a good feeling about this at all, so he stops skating, and advances towards the two boys.

Sungwoon sees him, stands up, and walks towards him.

They meet in the middle.

“Summer fling?” are the first words that escape Sungwoon’s mouth.

“Sungwoon!” Daniel has to keep himself from yelling so that he doesn’t let Jihoon hear anything.

A bitter laugh emerges from Sungwoon’s chest, and Daniel crumbles immediately.

“What happened between us,” Daniel pauses. “It wasn’t fair to you. I apologized. And I’ll apologize again, if that’s what you want.”

Sungwoon lifts his head, and Daniel remembers all the times his heart has raced like this because of Sungwoon. And then he stops himself, because those are all in the past. And if he ever wants to become a better person, he has to stop doing this.

“Niel,” Sungwoon shakes his head. “If you weren’t serious about me, and all the other boys before me, how can you be serious about _him_?”

Sungwoon’s question hangs in the air for a moment.

“Think about it,” Sungwoon says, patting his shoulder for good measure. “I’m not here to be a dick, but maybe you should think before you act sometimes.”

Daniel lets Sungwoon walk away, because he doesn’t have a good enough answer.

He stays rooted in his place for a while, Sungwoon’s question still bothering him.

Until Jihoon walks up to him and takes Sungwoon’s place.

“You okay?” Jihoon asks, worry ridden all over his face. 

“Yeah,” Daniel fakes a smile, hoping Jihoon buys it. “Sorry about… that.”

Jihoon purses his lips, like he desperately wants to say something, but finally, his muscles relax and he grabs Daniel’s hand.

“Didn’t you say something about teaching me to skate?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

“If you let me go _I will kill you_ ,” Jihoon knows it’s an empty threat but Daniel takes it seriously, so he lets Jihoon grip on tighter onto his hands. 

He didn’t want to skate – but after seeing how down Daniel looked after whatever exchange he and Sungwoon had earlier, he had to think of some way to at least distract Daniel. Jihoon doesn’t know why, he just hates seeing someone like Daniel sad.

“You’re doing really well,” Daniel encourages.

“Stop lying,” Jihoon snaps back, his legs wobbling. He just doesn’t understand how Daniel can balance so well on a board with four wheels and not fall on his back.

“Physics,” Daniel replies, sticking out his tongue.

“Shut up, nerd,” Jihoon hisses, drawing a laugh out of Daniel.

“Nerd?” Daniel threatens, removing his hands for a moment. And in that instant, Jihoon feels himself falling.

Until, of course, the same Daniel swoops in to save the day. 

“Got you,” Daniel smiles, one hand around Jihoon’s waist and another holding Jihoon’s hand to steady him. 

His hand is still racing from the scare when Daniel props him up onto the skateboard again.

“I don’t want to play anymore,” Jihoon pretends to pout and leave Daniel behind. 

“Hey!” he hears Daniel call out after him.

Grudgingly, he turns around. 

“Dinner with me?” Daniel beams.

Jihoon knows that Daniel loves the night sky. He understands why Daniel loves the night sky. 

But he wonders if Daniel loves the golden hour as well – because right now, under the warm glow of the sunset, Kang Daniel looks even more beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“And then I kind of realised the two people I had a crush on were dating each other?” Daniel’s shoulders slump, like he’s kind of embarrassed. Jihoon smiles, taking another piece of beef into his mouth. 

“It wasn’t even like a crush, though!” Daniel protests, a second too late. “It was like a _friend crush_.”

When Jihoon had asked Daniel about how he became friends with Seongwoo and Minhyun, this was definitely not what he’d been expecting.

“That’s epic,” Jihoon admits. “Kind of weird, but a good story to tell.”

“For them,” Daniel frowns, putting another slice of beef onto Jihoon’s plate. 

Overall, dinner has been great. Daniel has lots of stories to tell and luckily for him, Jihoon likes listening. It’s comfortable, and Jihoon misses the smell and taste of Korean barbeque back home.

“Friend crush, huh?” Jihoon mumbles.

Daniel’s story may be more complicated than he thinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Isn’t is amazing,” Daniel marvels as he looks up at the night sky. “That there are _billions_ of stars in the galaxy?”

Daniel knows he’s geeking out on Jihoon right now, but he thinks he has the right to. Just because Jihoon has learnt how to balance a on a skateboard, and he’s making Daniel pull him while he’s on the board just because he’s lazy and too full to be walking.

_So, yeah,_ Daniel does have the right to let his inner thoughts about stars out to Jihoon right now.

“I guess,” Jihoon replies. “So, do stars keep forming? Do they even die?”

Very few people have asked Daniel to explain the stars to them. He can count the number on one hand – his mom, his dad and maybe Minhyun, like, once.

“Sure, they die out. It takes years and years but eventually they disappear,” Daniel tries to explain as un-astrology as he can manage. “And new ones form too, although that takes a long time as well.”

“So are we stuck with the same stars in our entire lifetime on earth?”

Daniel stops and turns back to face Jihoon. 

“Huh. I never thought of it that way.”

Jihoon smiles, and Daniel keeps on walking, pulling Jihoon’s hand along again.

“I never asked you,” Daniel remembers. “What your major was.”

“Guess,” Jihoon challenges. He holds Daniel’s hand just a little tighter when they go over a hump, and it’s hard to say the reason for his heartrate increasing abnormally isn’t due to the dinner they just had.

“I don’t know,” he shrugs. “Math?”

Even though he can’t see Jihoon right now, he’s sure the other boy is wrinkling his nose.

“Ew,” Jihoon says. “Definitely not.”

“Business?” Daniel tries again.

“Boring,” he can hear Jihoon rolling his eyes.

Daniel wants to step in to defend Seongwoo’s major, but thinks of all the times Seongwoo has done him wrong and keeps his words to himself.

He stops walking, and Jihoon crashes into his back.

“Ow,” Jihoon whines. “Why did you stop?”

“It’s your house,” Daniel says.

Jihoon looks around, and realises that it is, indeed, Woojin's (his) house. He gets off the skateboard, and lets go of Daniel’s hand. And Daniel starts to think he should have gone the longer way.

“Thanks for walking, or pulling me home,” Jihoon says, a little embarrassed.

“It was fun,” Daniel admits. “No one ever entertains my star talk.”

“We should do this again,” Jihoon suggests after a pause. 

“Really?” Daniel jumps at the idea. “You wouldn’t mind that?”

“If you’ll entertain my sarcastic comments,” Jihoon promises.

Daniel doesn’t exactly know how to explain his feelings right now. Maybe what Minhyun had said once can help.

_“Your face looks like it sprouted into a sunflower.”_

And that’s exactly how Daniel feels right now. To have someone as different as Jihoon to accept him and his obsession with stars and the night sky – he feels happy. Like a different kind of happy.

“Let’s make a deal, if you can guess my major by the end of my summer break here,” Jihoon pauses to ponder over his offer, then smiles. “I’ll grant you a wish.”

Daniel could think of a million wishes he would like to make right now.

_Hold my hand again._

_Smile at me again._

_Let me wrap my hands around your waist._

_Let me be the one to-_

And then he stops himself, because he knows his mind is running to places it shouldn’t be. He remembers Minhyun saying, “Take it slow, get to know him.”

_Yeah._

He can take this slow.

He is not going to fuck this up.

“You can only guess once every time we meet up,” Jihoon adds, holding out his hand.

Daniel takes it immediately.

“I hope you’re ready, because I already have a ton of wishes I’d like to make.”

Something about Jihoon’s smile tells Danie he has an inkling of what Daniel really means.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> forgive daniel he has a lot of feelings!!
> 
> i'm trying to keep this fluffy hehe i hope it's alright so far?
> 
> thank you all soooo much for all your lovely comments i hope i don't disappoint you guys!!
> 
> take care until the next update <3


	5. bus rides and meteor showers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the break!! writer's block is really coming for me idk why..

“ _And then_ , Minhyun hyung tells me we can still be friends which honestly broke my heart inside but looking back, it wasn’t such a bad idea,” Daniel rambles on, still somehow finding the time to shovel in spoons of ice-cream in between breaths. They’re still bothering Woojin, but _together_ , and because Woojin gives them a discount when his manager isn’t looking. So, a good deal.

 

Daniel had reached out this time, to ask if Jihoon wanted to hang out. And Jihoon being Jihoon, had obviously woke up at 2 in the afternoon with nothing to do, so he agreed. They’re catching up on the whole Daniel-Seongwoo-Minhyun story which Jihoon still finds hard to process, but funny to listen to.

 

“Seongwoo hyung wasn’t very happy with the whole arrangement at first,” Daniel shrugs. “I don’t know why he’s so cocky sometimes. He says it has to do with the fact that I had a friend crush on him first.”

 

Jihoon has to stifle a laugh when Daniel frowns.

 

“But it wasn’t my fault I saw Seongwoo hyung first,” Daniel reasons, like he’s gone over this argument a million times. And Jihoon can imagine, he probably has. “If I had seen Minhyun hyung first I definitely would have friend crushed on him first.”

 

“Still here, aren’t we?” Woojin’s voice interrupts Daniel’s story-telling session. Unknowingly, Jihoon turns back and glares at Woojin, who is still giving them that fake employee smile, which of course, flies right by Daniel.

 

“The ice-cream here is amazing, Woojin,” Daniel compliments, like Woojin’s job is making the ice-cream instead of scooping them. Jihoon thinks about telling Daniel to compliment the ice-cream machine instead then thinks of the discounts he’s might miss out on and shuts his mouth.

 

“I’m probably going to need one more for the road,” Daniel continues, already up on his feet to see which flavor he should try next.

 

“The road?” Jihoon echoes, “Where are you going?”

 

“ _We_ ,” Daniel corrects, then turns to Woojin’s colleague and flashes a smile. “I’ll have a chocolate mint cone, no wait, make that a cup. It’s going to melt and make my fingers sticky as soon as I’m out of here.”

 

“We are going to see a meteor shower.”

 

Jihoon’s jaw drops, and he thinks he hears Woojin snigger behind him. Mentally, he has already killed Park Woojin 10 years ago but he keeps his eyes on Daniel, who returns with a large scoop of chocolate mint ice-cream.

 

It looks like no one is immune against Kang Daniel’s smile.

 

“We are?” Jihoon repeats, not believing the other boy. “You? And me?”

 

“Yeah,” Daniel confirms. “You and me. And the night sky. Just the three of us, watching a meteor shower. You haven’t seen one, have you?”

 

Jihoon glances back at Woojin, who is still smiling at their conversation. Daniel seems to catch on to Jihoon’s internal dilemma and quickly jumps in, “Woojin, you can join us if you want.”

 

“ _Oh please_ ,” Woojin practically purrs. “Don’t let me stop you two. I’m doing closing today, so. Please go ahead and give Jihoon the best meteor shower show in his life.”

 

With that, Woojin winks very obviously at Jihoon and walks away to clean the cups or whatever the hell he does in the kitchen and leaves Jihoon alone with Daniel again, except now they have concrete plans for the night.

 

“How do you know there’s going to be a meteor shower?”

 

“My professor from college texted me,” Daniel says proudly, holding up his phone. “I’m his favourite student, so he gives me some insider information on these sorts of things. You can thank me later.”

 

“Yeah…” Jihoon nods slowly. “I definitely will.”

 

Daniel Kang? Boy with perfectly toned abs and a huge social circle is also his professor’s favourite student? Jihoon is starting to doubt that Daniel is real. Maybe he’s a clone created by the government – because there is no way this boy has any flaws.

 

Not that Jihoon is complaining, and also because this is going to give him a much harder time.

 

“I also packed us a picnic basket,” Daniel says proudly, holding up a basket Jihoon has never seen in his life from under the table. “I didn’t know what you liked, but I packed a lot of stuff. I’m sure we’ll find something.”

 

 _Fuck,_ Jihoon curses. Kang Daniel is too good to be true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fact is, Daniel has never seen a meteor shower in his life either. Sure, he’s seen it a million times on screen and memorized how they look like already. It’s just that meteor showers are so rare – and also Daniel doesn’t really have anyone special to see it with.

 

It takes a lot of commitment to have someone who has completely no interest in astrology come along with Daniel just so he can geek out. Besides, he’d feel too guilty the entire day if he had to guilt-trip someone into coming with him.

 

First of all, Daniel is aware he’d kind of scammed Jihoon into coming with him. But that’s because Jihoon doesn’t seem to mind.

 

And also because Park Jihoon is special – and Daniel wants to see his first meteor shower with someone special.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel knows Jihoon is drifting away – just mentally. He picks up the signs easily, from the way Jihoon’s eyes become a little hazy and unfocused (which isn’t helping Daniel’s weak heart at all) and he starts nodding off to Daniel’s rambling.

 

The bus isn’t helping Jihoon stay awake earlier, after all the ice-cream they had from before, Daniel’s starting to feel a little full as well. He doesn’t want to torture Jihoon any longer, so he takes out his earphones and offers one side to Jihoon.

 

“You really prepared everything,” Jihoon mumbles as Daniel mulls over which song to choose. He’s suddenly concerned over his music taste; like what if it’s too crappy for Jihoon’s liking.

 

Daniel glances at Jihoon, and thinks he wouldn’t care. Because his eyes are already closed and head tilting to one side while the bus rocks gently from side to side.

 

So, he chooses a song and lets his eyes flutter close as well.

 

_Look at the stars_

_Look how they shine for you_

_And everything you do_

_Yeah, they were all yellow_

 

It’s not a secret that Daniel wakes up halfway, and brings Jihoon’s head closer to rest on his shoulder. Only because he doesn’t want Jihoon’s neck to ache after. No personal feelings, really.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Daniel? Daniel, we’re here!”

 

Daniel struggles to open his eyes, because he’d been having such a good nap. He’d been on a bus with Jihoon, listening to music together, and on the way to watch a meteor shower-

 

“Hey, get up,” Jihoon shakes him violently, and Daniel realises that it wasn’t a dream. He scrambles up from his seat to see that they’re already at the last stop, and the sun is starting to set. Jihoon’s expression looks like a cross between annoyed and concerned.

 

“I slept,” Daniel marvels, allowing Jihoon to carry their picnic basket and pull him out of the bus. “I really slept.”

 

“Yeah, you did,” Jihoon replies when they get off. This area is nice, and quiet, just like his professor said it would. There’s nothing much – no buildings or city lights to block out the stars later on, it’s just a field of grass and occasional plateaus and small hills.

 

“So, expert,” Jihoon looks around, unsure. “Where do you propose we sit?”

 

Daniel scratches the nape of his neck.

 

“Anywhere is good,” he confesses. “I’ve never done this before, but I’ve read up that plain areas are the best to let our eyes adjust to the dark. So, anywhere, really.”

 

Jihoon hums, already on his way to set up the picnic mat.

 

“There’s no one else but us here,” Jihoon notices, looking a little embarrassed. Daniel feels heat rushing to his cheeks as he stutters, “I-uh, might have begged my professor not to tell any of the other students. God knows how many people will rush down if news got out.”

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Jihoon replies, kicking off his shoes and settling down on the mat. “It’s better this way.”

 

 _Yeah, a lot better, actually._ It’s perfect when it’s _just_ Daniel and Jihoon, and the night sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kang Daniel could be a serial killer for all Jihoon knows. After all, he did just bring him to an empty field with no civilisation in sight with the bribe of the chance to catch some shooting stars. And Park Jihoon was about to be the most stupid victim ever.

 

Except serial killer Kang Daniel brings along a bento set, and Jihoon is sold on the entire idea, even if it means risking his life.

 

“You didn’t go to culinary school, did you?” Jihoon gasps, making Daniel giggle. “I don’t deserve this.”

 

“Sure, you do,” Daniel encourages. “You came down here with me, and I’m thankful for that. This is my way of saying thank you.”

 

Jihoon could think of some ways he’d want to say “you’re welcome” but decides it’s best for the both of them if he keeps his thoughts to himself. He gratefully accepts the bento lunchbox that Daniel hands to him.

 

“Is this your idea of a cat?” is the first thing he asks when he opens the lunchbox. Inside, Daniel has (attempted to) arrange his rice in a shape of a cat, with some eggrolls and sliced beef at the side and even a section of fruits in the corner. It’s a cute attempt, but Jihoon can see just how much Daniel struggled with the design.

 

“Hey!” Daniel protests weakly, knowing it’s not the best cat he could have prepared. “At least you could still make out a cat, right?”

 

“You’re right,” Jihoon smiles. “It has nice ears.”

 

“Thank you,” Daniel beams. “Dig in, and tell me what you think of it.”

 

“Cheers,” Jihoon lifts up his box, and doesn’t hesitate to start eating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel decides he’s going to be honest with at least himself. He’s not a chef, and he could never be. The lunchbox was his original idea, Minhyun was just someone Daniel had consulted to make his ideas work. Minhyun had cooked the rice, fried the eggrolls and beef.

 

Seongwoo cut the fruit – which was a lot of effort on his part, Daniel had to admit.

 

The cat shaped rice was Daniel’s idea, and had begged for Minhyun to let him try. Obviously, it didn’t go well. But seeing how much Jihoon is enjoying the lunch, Daniel decides he’s going to make use of his friends for a lot longer; they owe him a lot anyway.

 

He realises they’re both rooting for him. Heck, even Daniel’s demons are rooting for him.

 

_“Just don’t try to kiss him or anything like that,” Minhyun had warned. “I mean, if he initiates it then maybe. But we all know how you initiating things turn out, right Niel?”_

And Daniel’s puppy ears flopped down at the facts. He made a promise to Minhyun and Seongwoo – not to try and kiss Park Jihoon tonight.

 

“Daniel? It’s amazing, really. Thank you for this.”

 

Jihoon looks so genuinely happy when he’s smiling with food in his mouth and Daniel finds it so painfully endearing he has to clench his fists to resist the temptation.

 

 _God damn_ , it’s going to be so hard to keep his promise to his friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon’s mother likes to joke that Jihoon can only get a man that will feed him well. Jihoon’s dad likes to agree very seriously. And Jihoon likes to refute that argument, saying he’s never going to find a man that perfect – in fact, he’s going to be very happy if someone even takes an interest in him.

 

But right now, he’s feeling well fed and well… _blissful_.

 

He hadn’t found the right situation to use that word in before but he imagines this is what it would feel like. Jihoon is lying down next to Daniel on the picnic mat in the dark (as demanded by Daniel, because they have to let their eyes get used to the night sky.) and he’s full.

 

And he feels blissful.

 

“Do you think there are other universes other than the one we live in?” Jihoon asks. Maybe it’s because Daniel has bared so much of his real self to Jihoon, that Jihoon feels like he can comfortably share his inner thoughts with the other boy too.

 

“Like, parallel universes?” Daniel asks.

 

“Yeah,” Jihoon replies softly.

 

“I don’t know the science part of it, but yes. I’ve always believed that there are so many more universes out there,” Daniel says. “It’s impossible for there not to be. The world is huge, and the universe is I guess, huge-er. Who’s to say there isn’t more of this?”

 

This is why Jihoon likes talking to Daniel. He never rejects any of Jihoon’s ideas. In fact, he adds onto them with his own views, and suddenly Jihoon is exposed to a whole new world.

 

“Right?” Jihoon smiles, although they aren’t looking at each other. “We could exist in another world, as totally different people, but still us, you know?”

 

He looks at the night sky and wonders when the stars will come into view.

 

“I could be a totally badass gang member,” Jihoon giggles. “And you would probably be a… doctor.”

 

“ _Doctor_?” Daniel whines. “Why do I get to be the boring one? And how would we meet then?”

 

“I don’t know,” Jihoon shrugs. “That’s for alternate universe us to find out, right?”

 

“I’ll make my guess now,” Daniel says.

 

“What? How we meet?” Jihoon turns to look at Daniel, who is already looking at him.

 

“No,” Daniel shakes his head. “I’ll leave that up to alternate universe Kang Daniel to take care of. I want to guess your major. Our deal, remember?”

 

“Right,” Jihoon remembers.

 

He then wonders if he let out too much information today. Jihoon wants to be the one to be granted a wish – he wants to win. And from the smile on Daniel’s face, he’s afraid that he knows.

 

“Shoot,” he tells Daniel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel says a silent prayer and grins.

 

“Literature,” he says, with confidence.

 

“Uh-uh,” Jihoon crosses his arms to form an ‘x’. “Damn, I almost thought you had it.”

 

Daniel feels his heart drop. He doesn’t have that many chances to begin with, but he has absolutely no idea. With all the alternate universe and deep things he would have thought that maybe Jihoon could somehow be a literature major.

 

Looks like he’ll have to schedule more dates with Park Jihoon, then.

 

“What are you staring at?” Jihoon asks, catching his eye.

 

_You._

 

“Nothing,” Daniel gulps, turning his head back up to the sky, and hopes that something will appear soon.

 

And then, from the corner of his eye, he sees something bright flash across the sky.

 

And another one.

 

And two more.

 

“Daniel,” he hears Jihoon whisper from behind him. “Is that… the meteor shower?”

 

“I think so,” Daniel whispers back, too star-struck. Four more fly across the dark night sky and Daniel has to force himself not to blink or else he’ll miss it. “Why are we whispering?”

 

“So we don’t scare the shooting stars away,” Jihoon whispers.

 

And suddenly, like brightly-lit, beautiful arrows, yellow streaks of light start to fly across the sky. One by one, they’re illuminating the sky with their glow and soon enough, the entire sky is filled with shooting stars.

 

“It’s beautiful,” Jihoon gasps, grabbing Daniel’s arm. “Is this really happening?

 

“Make a wish,” Daniel nudges Jihoon.

 

Daniel looks to find that one star he wants to wish upon. And he finds one, dropping slower than the others, but still burning bright, and makes his wish. When he’s finished, he manages to tear his eye away from the beautiful sight to Jihoon, who has his hands clasped together, mouthing his wish for the stars to hear.

 

Daniel wants to touch Jihoon’s hair, maybe even run his fingers through them and plant the softest of kisses on Jihoon’s cheek right now – but he can’t.

 

He’s going to make sure of his feelings before jumping into anything. Daniel is not going to impulsively confess to Jihoon just because he’s feeling a little giddy at how pretty Jihoon looks right now (maybe even prettier than the shooting stars). He’s going to make sure that Jihoon doesn’t get hurt because of him.

 

So, Daniel just slings props his head up with his arms, and continues to smile at the prettier sight that night.

 

Spoiler: it isn’t the shooting stars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon _knows_ , he can feel Daniel staring at him. He can sense the words that are just begging to flow out from Daniel’s mouth, and it’s hard to say Jihoon doesn’t feel the same. Maybe he’s feeling more sentimental with the stars flying above them, or maybe this is the moment he’s made aware of his more romantic than normal feelings for Kang Daniel.

 

But he can’t. Jihoon is only going to be here for five more weeks. And just thinking about being separated from someone – it’s going to kill him. Woojin’s absence had Jihoon mope around for months, what more… _this?_

 

Jihoon _knows_ , he’s feeling things he’s not supposed to.

 

In Woojin’s words, he’s taken a liking to a fuckboy. In his own words, he’s taking a very dangerous liking to a boy who loves the stars too much for his own good.

 

So, Jihoon just continues to stare at the stars and pray that alternate universe Park Jihoon would know what to do; and maybe in his dreams, come visit him, and tell him what he should do with his heart that keeps wanting to turn around and kiss the life out of Kang Daniel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so! i wanted to make this chapter longer but i'll keep the even fluffier stuff to next chapter because this update is a really important one to both of our characters??
> 
> also... about the twitter thing... i think i will join when i finish this story? i hope :) i'm so excited to be able to finally talk with you guys i've just been super shy about it and just dragging this whole thing out but i think i will be ready when this story is finished!
> 
> i estimate another 2-3 or even 4 more chapters till the end but! thank you for sticking with me always i hope you enjoyed this short little update and i promise to update soon!! until then please take care of yourselves <3


	6. barbecues and night swims

“That sounds like a _great_ idea,” Daniel gushes. He reaches out to wrap Seongwoo in a hug to thank him for his contribution to his a little less than tragic love life but stops short when he sees Minhyun’s frown. God damn, these two love birds. Daniel needs a break – just because he had a (friend) crush on both of his friends at one point in time didn’t mean it would last forever.

 

“That sounds like a _terrible_ idea,” Minhyun argues, turning to change the channel from a race to some a home shopping channel.

 

First of all, both Minhyun and Seongwoo are still living with their parents. So, Daniel has no idea why Minhyun would have any use for a home shopping channel. Seongwoo looks like he’s used to it, from the way he has that disgusting grin spread across his face. Secondly, they’re in Daniel’s house, and he won’t stand for this kind of attitude.

 

“Why?” Daniel tries to come off as annoyed, but he honestly sounds like a whiny child that got denied a new toy. “We’re not even doing it at your house. It’s Seongwoo’s house.”

 

“It’s not his house,” Minhyun rebuts easily. “It’s his parents' house. And you know what happens every time we have a party at Seongwoo’s house. Who ends up cleaning up?”

 

Seongwoo keeps his mouth shut, and Daniel feels a little betrayed that his friend is already at his mercy of his boyfriend; and they aren’t even married yet.

 

“ _You_ ,” Daniel sighs, from the many experiences. Minhyun nods, and Daniel adds, “But I’ll help you. I promise.”

 

“Hard to say,” Minhyun shrugs, eyes still focused on some kind of robotic vacuum cleaner on the tv. “You’re usually passed out on the couch by the time the party is over.”

 

“I won’t drink,” Daniel promises, then looks at the expression on Minhyun’s and Seongwoo’s faces and adds with a sheepish smile, “I won’t drink _much_. Just a little, enough to have fun. But not enough to pass out.”

 

Minhyun deliberates the consequences and hopefully, the feelings of Daniel. Finally, he turns to Seongwoo and says, “It’s your house, you decide.”

 

“Yes!” Daniel raises a fist in the air happily. “Thank you, Minhyun hyung!”

 

“You’re coming with me to do the shopping,” Seongwoo points at Daniel, who looks more than happy with the arrangement. “And my bedroom is strictly. Out of bounds.”

 

“Gross, hyung,” Daniel smiles, already taking out his phone to text a certain boy and invite him over.

 

He just hopes Jihoon doesn’t already have any plans for tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Do we have any plans for tonight?” Jihoon asks Woojin, who is destroying the Xbox controller. Jihoon doesn’t understand why Woojin has to be so violent – and it doesn’t look like he’s winning either. So, _why try?_ As expected, Woojin’s character dies quickly and he puts the game on pause.

 

“I don’t think so,” Woojin muses, looking through his pile of video games for another one to play. “Why?”

 

Jihoon feels embarrassed saying it out loud, but he’s sure Woojin wouldn’t care anyway. Plus, it’s Daniel asking and he’s offering a free barbeque dinner at Seongwoo’s house. The thought of new people still makes him hesitate on accepting the offer, but Daniel is going to be there. And so is Woojin, right?

 

“Daniel invited us to a barbeque party,” Jihoon says, bracing for Woojin’s reaction.

 

“ _Huh_ ,” Woojin hums.

 

“And?” Jihoon taps his feet impatiently. “We can go, right?”

 

“He’s really trying to get it in, isn’t he?”

 

“ _Woojin_!” Jihoon gasps loudly, flying over the bed and quickly covering Woojin’s mouth with his hands. He quickly retreats before Woojin can lick his hand, well, because he’s Park Woojin.

 

“Tell me you aren’t aware, Jihoon,” Woojin crosses his arms. “He’s being so painfully obvious. I only asked him to come and bring you out that one time, and he volunteers himself for all the other times. And you, dumbass, are walking into his trap.”

 

Jihoon can’t help but agree. Everything Woojin says is facts and Jihoon doesn’t have anything substantial to dispute his friend’s argument. But it’s Daniel-

 

“I can hear you thinking from here,” Woojin rolls his eyes. “ _But it’s Daniel, it’s good old, Kang Daniel._ Jihoon, you’ve known him for a month. What about me?”

 

“You didn’t even talk to him until I came along,” Jihoon points out. “I’ve spent more time with him in this entire month than you have in six!”

 

He knows defending Daniel is only going to make things worse, but he doesn’t think that Daniel is all Woojin says at all. So far, Daniel has only been kind to him, nothing else. Maybe Jihoon wishes he were a little less kind, so he would at least have a flaw.

 

“I’m not going to stop you from going,” Woojin says. “But I’m coming too, just to watch you.”

 

“You’re not my mom,” Jihoon whines. Deep down, he knows his mom would ask Woojin to do the exact same thing for Jihoon.

 

“Tell Daniel we’ll be there,” Woojin concludes. “And Daehwi, and Jinyoung too.”

 

Jihoon loves Daehwi and Jinyoung, but he wasn’t looking forward to babysitting tonight. But if that’s what it takes to shut Woojin up, he’s going to take it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel helps Seongwoo with unpacking the meat and setting up the fire while keeping a lookout for Jihoon while the rest of Seongwoo’s friends start to pile in one by one. He worries for Jihoon – he knows the other boy doesn’t fancy crowds at all.

 

“Niel,” Seongwoo pats him on his shoulder. “You’re thinking too much, you’re worrying too loudly. I can hear you from here.”

 

“Sorry,” his shoulders slump after saying hi to a mutual friend. “I’m just worried I’ll screw this up again. Oh, _who the fuck_ \- is that?”

 

Daniel squints and his heart drops when he sees who is exchanging friendly hugs with Minhyun.

 

“You know he’s Minhyun’s friend, right?” Seongwoo says sympathetically from the back. “You make the worst choices with your hook-ups. Never get it on with your best friend’s friend.”

 

“He _wasn’t_ a hook-up,” Daniel practically growls and straightens his shoulders when he sees Sungwoon and Minhyun approaching them. He’s not going to crumble- he’s not going to-

 

“Hey, Niel,” Sungwoon smiles. Daniel pretends not to see Sungwoon’s arms linked around Taehyun’s. And he tries to ignore the way Sungwoon calls his name so affectionately-

 

Seongwoo nudges him out of his daydream. Hard.

 

“Hey,” Daniel manages, amidst the strange stares that he’s getting from all his friends.

 

Sungwoon frowns, then smiles and leaves with Taehyun, still arm and arm. And Daniel reaches for his second bottle of beer that night.

 

“Remember your promise to Minhyun about the clean-up,” Seongwoo warns. “And get your act together, are you over Sungwoon or not?”

 

“I am,” Daniel promises. “Just… it’s weird seeing him with someone else.”

 

“Okay,” Seongwoo replies, still sounding a little sceptical. “Don’t fuck this up, okay?”

 

Daniel nods, and fortunately, his eyes catch a family of four boys walking down the street and he finally feels he can breathe again. A small slip up isn’t going to cost him the entire night, especially not when he has so many things planned out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel bounds towards them like a dog without a leash, and jumps and waves happily to Jihoon when they near the house. Jihoon can’t help but smile, and feels a sense of accomplishment when he sees Woojin grimace.

 

“Thanks for coming,” Daniel says when they meet. “I hope you don’t mind the crowd.”

 

And fuck it that doesn’t make Jihoon’s heart skip a beat. It’s nothing serious, but he’s happy that Daniel took the time to remember, and- okay he’s rambling too much internally so he turns back to his three friends.

 

“They’re hungry monsters, so feed them, please,” he gestures especially to Woojin.

 

“Ah, Woojin,” Daniel has an evil smile on his face, one Jihoon has never seen before. “There might be someone here you’d be very happy to meet. Daehwi, Jinyoung, I’ll show you to the food area and then you can make Seongwoo cook whatever you want for you guys, okay?”

 

Daniel whisks the three away, tells Jihoon he’ll be back soon, and Jihoon is glad to have some peace for once. He navigates his way through faces that he doesn’t recognise to the drinks counter.

 

“We meet again,” a familiar voice stands out from the chatter. Jihoon looks up from his cup, and recognises the same black hair and skinny frame. “Jihoon, right?”

 

“Sungwoon,” thankfully he remembers, because it would be an embarrassment. Then again, the other boy did make such a strong impression when they first met, it would be hard not to remember who Sungwoon was.

 

“It’s nice to see you here,” Sungwoon smiles. “Did Daniel invite you?”

 

“Yeah,” Jihoon replies half-heartedly. His eyes are searching for Daniel, or someone to save him from this conversation. It’s not like he isn’t giving Sungwoon a chance, he just hasn’t had very pleasant experiences with the other boy.

 

“Dude, relax, I’m here with my boyfriend,” Sungwoon laughs. “I’m over him, we sorted stuff out. If there’s anyone you should be worried about, it’s Niel, not me.”

 

Jihoon stiffens, remembering the way the two had interacted back then at the skateboard park. He’d brushed it off – he didn’t know what Daniel and Sungwoon went through back then, and he certainly wasn’t interested in knowing either.

 

“Sungwoon,” a deep voice interrupts them from behind.

 

“Niel,” Sungwoon turns to the tall figure. “We were just talking.”

 

Daniel looks at Jihoon, then at Sungwoon, and grabs Jihoon’s wrist.

 

“Sorry, I’ll have to steal Jihoon away from you,” Daniel smiles. “We have plans.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel’s plans include sitting at a corner of Seongwoo’s front yard, and bringing a plate full of food to Jihoon. He should have requested for a smaller party, but with Seongwoo’s large social circle, he knows he should count his blessings that the entire college isn’t here.

 

Jihoon looks happy, on the surface. Daniel can’t tell what he’s thinking about. Was he affected by Sungwoon’s appearance. Although he hopes Jihoon wasn’t, the selfish part of him wants to see Jihoon jealous – but that’s never going to happen.

 

“How many relationships have you had?”

 

Daniel almost chokes on his chicken.

 

“ _Excuse me?_ ”

 

Jihoon frowns, “You heard me. I want to know how many relationships you’ve had.”

 

“Not many.”

 

Jihoon scoffs, “Liar.”

 

“Do they even matter?” Daniel asks. “I didn’t even really like them.”

 

“Then why’d you date them?” Jihoon shoots back.

 

“I have a problem, okay?” Daniel sighs. While Jihoon looks taken aback, he continues, “I have a very serious problem. I crave affection, I love it when someone cares for me, and I mistake all of those feelings for love. Which is why all of my relationships have failed, because I can’t settle down. Just when I think I’ve found the one, the feelings disappear.”

 

_Which is why I’m being so careful with you._

 

“You deserve it,” Jihoon mutters under his breath. “You deserve to be happy. Be with someone who loves you for who you really are.”

 

Daniel smiles bitterly and looks up at the sky. It’s already dark.

 

“Is that someone even out there?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_Me, I’m here you idiot._

 

Jihoon wants to scream at Daniel, but he isn’t sure himself. Is he even worthy of Daniel’s love and affection? He’s scared to confess his feelings – because what if he’s the same as Daniel? What if the feelings fade, and their relationship goes from everything to completely nothing?

 

“You know what?” Daniel stands up.

 

“What?”

 

“We should swim,” Daniel pulls Jihoon up. “Come on, I know the way.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seongwoo’s house is huge. He even has a private pool at the back, where the door is locked. Jihoon breathes a sigh of relief, he doesn’t think he’s up for the challenge anyway. That is, until Daniel kneels down and starts keying in the passcode. With a beep, the door unlocks.

 

“I’m sure breaking into your friend’s house is a crime,” Jihoon points out. He’s not strong enough to resist, and with Daniel’s hand still wrapped around his wrist, he’s not going anywhere.

 

“Seongwoo doesn’t have to know if none of us talk,” Daniel winks. “Besides, it’s a hot night. Don’t you want to swim?”

 

Jihoon rubs his shoulders nervously.

 

“I think I’ll just watch you.”

 

“Nonsense,” Daniel says, already taking his shirt off. Jihoon has to mentally remind himself not to look away, because then Daniel would know. And God knows how much he would get teased for that. He pretends to be casual.

 

Daniel enters the pool with a splash and shakes his head violently when he resurfaces, like a wet puppy.

 

“Come on,” Daniel encourages, holding out his hand. “It’s not cold. Seongwoo’s family is filthy rich, so they heat up their swimming pool to just the right temperature.”

 

“I don’t know,” Jihoon hesitates. “I’m not so-“

 

Jihoon doesn’t have abs like Daniel, or a body that is even mildly comparable to Daniel’s. It’s a lie to say that he doesn’t feel conscious of his own body.

 

“Jihoon,” Daniel calls out. “You’re okay. You’re beautiful. Come in, okay?”

 

Jihoon knows Daniel is just saying that, to get him into the water. But he does feel a little encouraged.

 

“Okay,” he finally agrees. “But turn around.”

 

Daniel agrees and quickly turns around. Slowly, Jihoon tugs at the hem of his shirt. This whole thing is a bad idea, maybe Daniel is a bad idea, but Jihoon thinks “fuck it” and takes off his shirt and jeans and enters the water.

 

“Liar,” he hisses once he submerges himself. “It’s cold.”

 

Daniel turns around, grinning, “You’ll get used to it.”

 

Jihoon does feel better – especially on such a hot and humid night like this. A swim in the pool feels just right, especially when he doesn’t have many people to be conscious about.

 

He’s enjoying himself, until Daniel starts splashing at him.

 

“ _Stop it_ ,” Jihoon warns.

 

“No,” Daniel teases, splashing him with more water this time.

 

“You don’t know who you’re messing with, huh?” Jihoon finally gets enough of being teased by Daniel all the time and approaches the other boy slowly by wading across on his tippy-toes. “Come here.”

 

Without warning, Jihoon starts to aggressively splash Daniel with water, until he holds his hands up in surrender. And Jihoon doesn’t know why – he just gets filled with a sudden desire to get on Daniel’s back.

 

So, he does.

 

It’s strange, and hard to get used to. They’ve never been this intimate before, much less with their clothes off. As sexual as it sounds, Jihoon doesn’t think much of it. Daniel doesn’t seem to mind either, because he continues to carry Jihoon on his back and occasionally attack him with water.

 

“Kang Daniel,” Jihoon whispers when they fall silent again. “You deserve to be happy.”

 

Daniel stops, and Jihoon lets him go.

 

“Really,” Jihoon says with more conviction. “Don’t be scared because of the mistakes you’ve made in the past. One day, you’ll find someone who deserves you.”

 

Jihoon doesn’t say it out loud then, because he’s afraid he may regret it.

 

_Whoever has had the chance to be liked by you, is a very, very lucky person._

 

 

 

 

 

 

_Can’t you be that person?_

 

Daniel doesn’t explicitly say it out loud, he just thinks out loud. And he hopes that Jihoon will somehow be able to hear him. If Jihoon doesn’t ever say anything, Daniel doesn’t think he can initiate things. It’s way too risky, and Daniel doesn’t want to jeopardize their friendship.

 

Jihoon sneezes, bringing a smile back to Daniel’s face.

 

“You’re worrying too much about me,” Daniel assures Jihoon. “You’re the one about to catch a cold, come on. Let’s go and change. I know where the towels are.”

 

Daniel gets out of the pool first, then helps Jihoon out.

 

He silently thanks Seongwoo for being his friend and sneaks up to his bedroom, and expertly opens the cupboard where he knows his friend keeps the towels.

 

“Careful,” he tells Jihoon who is looking around the room. “You might find something you don’t want to see. Minhyun hyung comes over a lot.”

 

Jihoon immediately retreats, and a giggle rises from Daniel’s chest. How can a boy be _this_ cute?

 

“Here,” Daniel throws Jihoon a towel as he fetches himself a new shirt. Might as well, since he’s already in Seongwoo’s room. “Do you need a shirt?”

 

“I’m good,” Jihoon replies, slipping his shirt and jeans from before back on.

 

“You’re shivering,” Daniel notices. Now he feels like a jerk, because if Jihoon gets sick during the holiday, it’s going to be his fault. He takes the towel away from Jihoon and starts towelling the other boy himself.

 

“What are you-“

 

“Let me do this,” Daniel argues.

 

_Let me do this for you, at least._

 

“Feels good,” Jihoon laughs after a while. “Like a massage.”

 

“Really?” Daniel smiles, making sure to reach behind Jihoon’s ears. “Are you cold? You can borrow one of Seongwoo’s hoodies. I think I saw one of mine in there, you can have that instead.”

 

“It’s fine, Daniel,” Jihoon assures. “Come on, let me try.”

 

Daniel has to supress his laugh when Jihoon has to tip-toe. It’s not because Jihoon is short, he’s just cute, too cute.

 

“You’re too tall,” Jihoon sighs.

 

And then Daniel has to look down, at Jihoon’s focused face and the way his lips are pressed together in the nicest pink. Jihoon catches his eye, and Daniel sees a faint blush greeting the other boy’s cheeks. It can’t be, that Jihoon-

 

His arms are around Jihoon’s waist before he knows anything. Daniel has to try hard not to pull him closer, but his hand is already there and Jihoon himself smells so nice. Like chlorine, but still, nice.

 

Daniel wishes he could just open his damn mouth and ask – _do you like me too?_

 

But he’s scared, too scared. So, he just rests his head lightly on Jihoon’s shoulder and takes in his smell, his everything. Jihoon doesn’t move, and Daniel doesn’t know if that’s a good sign.

 

Sure, he does want to kiss Park Jihoon right now. But he also wants to be held. He’s scared, because he’s never felt this way before. Most times, he would start making out with the other person right now. But does Jihoon deserve that? Does Daniel deserve that?

 

“What are we doing?” Jihoon finally whispers.

 

“I don’t know,” Daniel admits. “I really don’t know.”

 

Slowly, Jihoon takes his hands down from around Daniel’s neck and puts them on Daniel’s chest. And then, he hesitantly pushes Daniel away. Daniel almost whines when he’s forced to separate from Jihoon, but keeps silent.

 

He can’t read Jihoon, he can’t ever read Jihoon.

 

“Should we forget this happened?” Jihoon asks.

 

Daniel gulps.

 

“If it makes you feel better.”

 

“Okay,” Jihoon smiles, but Daniel knows, it’s forced. “We’ll forget about it. I’m kind of hungry, want to get something to eat?”

 

“Yeah,” Daniel nods. “Let me finish drying my hair first, okay?”

 

“I did a terrible job, didn’t I?” Jihoon laughs, but even his laugh doesn’t sound natural anymore.

 

“I think you’ll do a better job at picking out our supper,” Daniel admits. “I’ll join you in a second, okay?”

 

“Don’t take too long,” Jihoon nods, already halfway out the door.

 

Daniel manages to grin. How did he manage to fuck things up without even doing anything yet?

 

“Daniel?”

 

Jihoon’s head pops back into view.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“We’re okay, right?”

 

Daniel smiles, “We’re okay.”

 

Jihoon leaves, and Daniel plops onto Seongwoo’s bed. He doesn’t care if his hair is wet, or if Seongwoo has done questionable things on this bed, he just wants the answers to his problem.

 

If he doesn’t get the answers soon, he’s afraid Jihoon is going to slip away before he has the chance to say anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who has the answers for daniel????
> 
> thank you all so much for the love and support i honestly don't deserve you guys ;;
> 
> i can only hope that my stories are good enough to repay you!!
> 
> until the next update, please take care of yourselves <3


	7. ice-cream and bad love letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i totally did not mean to hurt you guys with the previous chapter i hope this one makes it better!!

_Forget about it, just forget about it. Why can’t he forget about it?_

 

Jihoon had been the one to tell Daniel to leave it, never to mention it again. But why is _he_ the one that can’t get Daniel’s smell out of his head? Why is _he_ the one craving for Daniel’s hand on his waist again, steadying him – when he feels like he’s about to fall off a cliff?

 

It’s been days since the accident, and Jihoon hasn’t told anyone. Hell, he’s definitely not going to tell Woojin, knowing very well how his friend is just going to be all up in his face telling him, “I knew it. You’ve fallen for him.”

 

Did Jihoon really fall for Kang Daniel? How is it possible, when he’s only been here for a little more than a month, and Jihoon can count the times they’ve met with his fingers, and when Kang Daniel is supposed to be a fuckboy who has no chance in wriggling his way into Jihoon’s heart.

 

His phone rings, and he immediately reaches for it, heart dropping when he finds out that it isn’t the name he’s been waiting for. It’s Woojin, telling Jihoon he’s coming home soon and whether he needs some ice-cream.

 

Jihoon almost refuses, but thinks about how he really doesn’t feel like doing anything except crying right now and replies Woojin’s text with a _“yes please, as much as you can get”_ and throws his phone under his pillow, longing for the boy who uses too many emojis in one text to reply him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I fucked it up, I fucked everything up,” Daniel cries, his voice hoarse. He’s not really crying, not in front of his friends, but he sure as hell feels like he could.

 

“Here,” Minhyun hands him a bowl of ice-cream. Daniel just stares at the bowl of ice-cream dumbly, like it’s supposed to somehow cure his broken heart and finally gives in. Minhyun is a good friend, because Daniel does feel a little better with a taste of vanilla ice-cream in his mouth.

 

And then he has to think about how Jihoon and him used to have so much fun in Woojin’s workplace and he feels terrible again.

 

“What exactly happened that night?” Minhyun joins Daniel and Seongwoo on the bed, and Daniel can feel his two friends exchanging disappointed glances.

 

“I just…” Daniel tries to explain, then stops himself. “We had a moment, I guess? I wanted to ask him if he liked me and I chickened out. Then Jihoon asks me if I want to forget it ever happened, and I said yes and it’s just been weird ever since!”

 

He feels Seongwoo clocking him lightly on his head from the back, but doesn’t make a move to stop him. After all, he does deserve it.

 

“Dumbass,” he hears Seongwoo sigh. “He seems to really like you, why else would he agree to see a meteor shower with you, and go swimming with you, and ask if you wanted to pretend it never happened?”

 

“Seongwoo is right,” Minhyun adds. “What are you so scared of, Niel? You’ve never been like this.”

 

Daniel silently agrees with his friends. With anyone else, Daniel would have taken the risk, and confessed his feelings. But somehow, there’s an invisible wall between him and Jihoon that Daniel doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to cross.

 

Jihoon is different, and with him, Daniel feels scared yet at ease.

 

“I’m afraid of falling out of love,” he says in a small voice.

 

The atmosphere is tense, but Daniel feels like a weight has been lifted off his chest. It might look like nothing, but getting his insecurities off his chest feels so good, it feels amazing to finally say it out loud, even if he looks even more vulnerable in front of his friends.

 

“You never know unless you don’t try,” Minhyun says, rubbing Daniel’s back, like he would to soothe a child. “Seongwoo and I know that you’re an amazing person. We wouldn’t want you to miss out on someone just as amazing.”

 

“Right, you have an appointment with Jihoon tonight,” Seongwoo concludes, throwing Daniel’s phone towards him.

 

Daniel scrambles to grab his phone, and his heart almost jumps out of his chest when he sees what Seongwoo has done.

 

 

_To: Jihoon_

_Come over tonight, I wanna tell you something_

 

“Seongwoo hyung!” he practically screeches. “What did you do?”

 

“I helped you,” Seongwoo blinks innocently. “You have two weeks left with Jihoon. Make your move now, or forever hold your peace.”

 

Even though Seongwoo is right in every way (Daniel hates that), Daniel panics at the thought of Jihoon coming over. Is his room messy? Will Jihoon freak on him when they’re alone in an empty house? He hasn’t written and practiced a script – there’s no way he’s going to pull this off.

 

“You’re doing great, Niel,” Minhyun assures. “You’ll be okay.”

 

Daniel barely manages to catch his breath and keep his mind together.

 

“And by any chance, if it happens to go in a different direction, we can always work other things out and have more ice-cream,” Seongwoo pats his shoulder. “Okay?”

 

“Okay.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon is sure he looks like a mess – and at this point, he’s just happy he has enough blackmail material to ruin Park Woojin’s life forever so that he’ll never speak of this moment to anyone. Jihoon finishes his second stick of ice-cream, and Woojin passes him a third one silently.

 

“This wasn’t what I meant when I asked, ‘what’s up?’” Woojin confesses.

 

Jihoon doesn’t reply, and just bites the top off the melon ice-cream he’s given.

 

“Whoa,” Woojin says. “You’re not okay. Let me in.”

 

Silently, Jihoon shifts to the side of his bed and lets Woojin slip in under the covers. They don’t speak for a while, and let the sound of the tearing of ice-cream packets fill the silence between them. Jihoon can feel Woojin’s gaze on him, and finally crumbles.

 

“You’re going to hate me,” Jihoon says.

 

“Is this about using my toothbrush accidentally?” Woojin asks innocently. “Because if it is, you don’t have to worry. Sometimes I use yours by accident too.”

 

“What the fuck?” Jihoon almost pukes out his ice-cream.

 

Woojin takes one look at Jihoon’s expression and somehow deduces that Jihoon is in fact, not troubled about the little mix up of toothbrushes but something else and quickly looks away into the distance.

 

“Or not, forget I ever said that,” Woojin quickly dismisses it. “Tell me, I won’t hate you.”

 

Jihoon would love to give Woojin a noogie on the head right now for using his toothbrush but holds back because there’s something heavier weighing on his mind.

 

“You know…” Jihoon starts off awkwardly. “About our secret mission.”

 

Woojin looks confused, then realises what Jihoon is talking about a few seconds after.

 

“You mean _Operation Fuckboy?_ ”

 

Jihoon still cringes when he hears that stupid name Woojin had given to their “secret mission” at the start of the summer.

 

“Yeah,” Jihoon gulps nervously. “I think I’ve run into a little problem.”

 

“Oh,” Woojin sounds unamused. “Like what?”

 

“Like…” _God damn it_ , no one told Jihoon admitting that he has a crush on his best friend’s stepbrother’s crush was so hard. “I don’t think he’s into Daehwi.”

 

“Yeah, cause he’s into _you_.”

 

Jihoon starts choking on his ice-cream, which is definitely not a pretty sight, but it’s with Woojin, so it’s okay. Woojin pats his back sympathetically and when Jihoon finally calms down, he lifts his head to meet Woojin’s eyes, “And I’m kind of…”

 

“Also into _him_?”

 

“I’m sorry,” Jihoon’s shoulders slump against the wall, exhausted from just merely admitting he has a crush on someone. For a moment, he thinks Woojin is mad, but his friend just tears open another ice-cream and hands it to Jihoon.

 

“Go for it,” is all Woojin says.

 

“Huh?”

 

“I’m not going to stop you from liking someone,” Woojin shrugs. “Plus, I don’t think Daehwi is interested anymore. And you’re lucky, because I would have murdered you in your sleep if he still was.”

 

“Whoa,” Jihoon breathes a sigh of relief. “Who’s the lucky boy?”

 

“Bae Jinyoung, I should have known from the way they were spending way too much time together,” Woojin leans his back against the wall, looking a little defeated. “An upgrade from Kang Daniel, but I still don’t know.”

 

Jihoon chuckles, because even if Woojin teases Daehwi daily, he’s always going to be Daehwi’s protective step-brother behind closed doors.

 

“Still, this doesn’t mean we’re going to get together or anything.”

 

“ _What_ ,” Woojin punctuates, and Jihoon can’t tell if he’s annoyed or bored.

 

“I have two weeks left,” Jihoon stretches. “Till summer is over. And then what? I’ll have to go back to Korea, and he’s going to be here, 12 hours away from me. It’s never going to work out.”

 

“What are you? Living in the 90s?” Woojin snaps, nudging Jihoon so hard he falls on his side. “Technology exists. And I’m going to make sure he doesn’t try anything funny while you’re away.”

 

“I don’t know,” Jihoon groans, “It’s not like he’s making a move either.”

 

Just then, his phone sounds, and like the whipped loser he is, Jihoon reaches for it immediately.

 

 

_From: Daniel_

_Come over tonight, I wanna tell you something_

 

 

He looks back at Woojin, who is smirking already.

 

“No,” Jihoon says aloud. “I can’t do this.”

 

“Don’t be dumb,” Woojin chides. “What are you so afraid of?”

 

What is Jihoon so afraid of anyway? He’s dated before, twice, to be exact. They were never really long term, and ended in less than four months. The feeling this time is different, but Jihoon can’t exactly put a finger on it. Daniel is so different from him, yet he fills in the gaps in Jihoon’s life so easily.

 

“I’m afraid of losing him,” Jihoon confesses.

 

“Then go,” Woojin smiles, and grabs Jihoon’s phone. “Go and get him before you lose him.”

 

When Woojin hands him his phone back, Jihoon doesn’t know whether he should thank Woojin or never talk to his friend again.

 

_To: Daniel_

_I have something I want to tell you too._

_To: Daniel_

_I’ll see you tonight :)_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel paces across his room for the nth time that night. His parents are out for dinner, so he has to whole house to do uh- whatever the hell he wants to. He makes sure he looks good, and that his room looks at least decent for a human to step into.

 

He should really have eaten dinner earlier, because now he’s starving, but also nervous to eat anything for fear that he’ll puke it out later.

 

Daniel glances at the piece of paper in his hand that he’s been trying to memorize for the past hour.

 

_“I don’t know if you’ll accept my heart but I think it’s only right to let you know how I really feel about you. You’re like the star-“_

 

“ _Fuck_ ,” Daniel curses, slumping into the nearby chair. This is never going to work out, is it? The script has some of his real feelings in it but he can’t help but feel like what he really wants to say to Jihoon will never be able to be put into words.

 

He jumps to his feet when he hears someone knocking the door, takes one deep breath, and tries to look as confident as possible when he opens the door.

 

It really only takes a _“Hey, you”_ to escape from Park Jihoon’s mouth to convince Daniel to drop his script there and then and make out with Jihoon while putting his hands in the back pockets of Jihoon’s black jeans and whisper sweet everythings into his ears.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Are you okay?” Jihoon asks.

 

Daniel looks exactly the way he’s been looking for the six weeks. Too beautiful for Jihoon’s heart to take.

 

“I’m fine,” Daniel says, suddenly snapping back to life. “Have you been okay?”

 

And he knows Daniel is asking about that night at their barbeque party. They haven’t seen each other since then, and Jihoon never knew he could miss someone this bad.

 

“Yeah,” Jihoon manages to answer.

 

Daniel lets Jihoon into his home. It’s big, and empty.

 

“My parents are out for the night,” Daniel explains. “Do you want to go upstairs?”

 

Jihoon’s heart starts to beat faster – and it’s really not Daniel’s fault. He’s painfully aware of his own feelings now and he doesn’t trust himself to be able to act decently with Daniel, especially when they’re going to be left alone like this.

 

“Okay,” Jihoon agrees anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel’s bedroom screams Kang Daniel and the night sky. Jihoon can’t help but smile when he sees some of the posters Daniel has up on his wall, and the glow in the dark star stickers he has on his ceiling.

 

“I got those when I was five,” Daniel clarifies for Jihoon, who is busy looking up at the ceiling. “I never took it down. Don’t judge me.”

 

Jihoon holds up both his hands in defence, “I wasn’t judging.”

 

Daniel gives him a grin, and says, “ _Sure_.”

 

And Jihoon feels like even if everything is not okay right now, it will be soon.

 

“Do you want to look at the stars?”

 

Trust Kang Daniel to be the only boy on this earth to get you to his bedroom alone and then ask to look at the stars together. It’s been game over for Jihoon since the very beginning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“What do you see?” Daniel prompts excitedly, while Jihoon is trying his very best to look for something through Daniel’s personal telescope next to his window.

 

“Uh…” Jihoon tries looking around. “Stars?”

 

He hears Daniel chuckling beside him and looks away from the telescope to Daniel, “Why are you laughing?”

 

Daniel feigns an innocent expression, eyes wide and mouth open, “Me? Why would I laugh at you?”

 

Unsatisfied, Jihoon goes for the ‘poke-in-the-ribs’ move that he’d learnt from Woojin years ago. Daniel jumps back, but not in time for Jihoon to get him.

 

“You’re so dead,” he hears Daniel threaten, but to Jihoon, they really sound like empty words. Because who’s to overpower him – the stronger of the two Parks and the one who always wins in innocent wrestling matches between him and Woojin?

 

10 seconds later, Daniel has Jihoon pinned down on his bed, and Jihoon really doesn’t know how else to put it, but they’re really not doing anything mildly romantic.

 

“I concede defeat,” Jihoon surrenders. Damn, Daniel indeed.

 

“I don’t concede my victory,” Daniel chirps, looking very happy in his position.

 

Jihoon would very much like to peck Daniel on the lips right now.

 

“Hey,” Jihoon says in a softer, more serious voice. “I have something I want to tell you.”

 

Daniel closes his eyes momentarily, like he remembers why they’re here in the first place.

 

“Me too. Wait here.”

 

Daniel pushes himself off the bed and leaves Jihoon alone in the room. The few seconds Jihoon gets alone is all he needs to get his thoughts into order.

 

_Okay, Kang Daniel. I know this is weird but I really, really like you more than a friend. And I know how we have only two weeks left for summer break and we still have a lot of things to work out but I will try my best-_

 

His thoughts are interrupted when Daniel comes back, with a crumpled piece of paper in his hand. Jihoon sits up, curious.

 

“Don’t judge me,” Daniel says for the second time that night. “I really have to do it like this, or I’ll mess this up really bad.”

 

Daniel clears his throat once, and unfolds the paper while taking a seat opposite Jihoon on his bed. Slowly, he begins reading. But all Jihoon can really hear is his voice trembling and his hands shaking unconsciously.

 

Jihoon only feels the adoration and love for the other boy build up in his chest – and inside, he thinks: _how could I have taken so long to find you?_

 

 _No more looking_ , Jihoon tells himself. _He’s right in front of you_.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _Here goes nothing_ , Daniel thinks. If this falls through, he has Minhyun on speed dial #1 and he’s going to make his friends come over right now with five tubs of ice-cream and he’s going to cry like a baby through the entire weekend.

 

“P-park Jihoon,” Daniel begins hesitantly. “I didn’t know t-that my feelings could ever be so hard to express in words until I t-thought about how I really felt about you.”

 

Jihoon reaches over, just to cover Daniel’s hand with his. Daniel jumps just a little, out of shock of feeling Jihoon’s hand against his. Jihoon’s hand is warm, and nice. And he calms down just a little.

 

He looks up, and Jihoon smiles, “You want to continue, or should we get right to the important stuff?”

 

Daniel’s heart stops just for a second.

 

“I like you,” Jihoon says. “I really like you, Kang Daniel.”

 

Daniel looks back at his script, and how he has another three paragraphs of chicken-scratch handwriting to go through and back at Jihoon – who he can’t decide is pranking him right now or not.

 

“Don’t joke around,” Daniel warns, feeling anxious again. “I’m really s-serious about this.”

 

Jihoon’s face falls a little, “I’m not joking around. I like you.”

 

“You’re not joking around,” Daniel realises. “You really, really, 100% like me?”

 

Jihoon crosses his arms, looking a little annoyed, “Well, maybe not 100% yet. But I’ve realised through the six weeks that I’ve spent here that I do like you a little more than everyone else.”

 

And Daniel smiles, so wide till his face feels like it’s going to tear. And Jihoon smiles too, until they’re both sitting on the bed with their legs crossed while grinning at each other. They burst into laughter, and Daniel lets go of his crumpled script to wrap Jihoon in a hug.

 

“ _Thank God_ ,” he mumbles into the crook of Jihoon’s neck. “Thank God, you like me too. I was going to go on an extreme dessert only diet the rest of the summer if you rejected me.”

 

When Daniel feels Jihoon’s arms wrap around his back, he feels loved and cared for.

 

“Idiot,” he hears Jihoon chide. “Why would you do that?”

 

“I don’t know,” Daniel’s rambling now. “Because you’re really sweet and cute and I think if I saw you with anyone else I would literally die.”

 

“I’m here now, aren’t I?”

 

“Yes, you are,” Daniel replies. “Please never leave.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon knows Daniel means _‘please never leave’_ in the way that means they should never breakup but all he can think about is how when he finally has Daniel, the time he has left suddenly seems so much shorter.

 

“Come here,” Daniel motions to the space beside him while Jihoon had been spacing out and allowing Daniel to get them some snacks for the movie Daniel has apparently been dying to watch forever.

 

Jihoon hesitates, then remembers that hunky, handsome Kang Daniel is actually his boyfriend now and takes his rightful place next to him.

 

“What are we watching?” Jihoon asks, as the title sequence starts rolling.

 

“Interstellar,” Daniel replies, feeding Jihoon a cracker.

 

Boyfriend duties list – feeding Jihoon without him asking, _check_.

 

“Nerd,” Jihoon teases.

 

Daniel’s grip around his waist tightens, “Yeah, _your nerd.”_

 

Jihoon hates how his stomach gets filled with butterflies with just one phrase, and he thanks his guardian angels that the lights are turned off so Daniel won’t see how red his face is.

 

Silently, he messages Woojin, just so that his friend doesn’t freak out from the lack of response he’s giving and suddenly show up at Daniel’s front door and ruin their first official date.

 

 

_From: ugly best friend_

_How did it go???_

_To: ugly best friend_

_I’m going to be home late_

_From: ugly best friend_

_Ugh, ok. Remember to use protection ><_

 

 

Jihoon shuts off his phone before Daniel can see. He’s going to need bleach to wipe that message from his memory.

 

“Hey,” he hears Daniel whisper. “Watch the movie.”

 

“I am,” Jihoon protests, moving even closer to Daniel.

 

The other boy doesn’t even seem to notice Jihoon, and Jihoon can hardly believe this is the same boy that was shaking nervously while trying to read him a love letter just an hour ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Just let me read it,” Jihoon snaps, jumping and failing to get his hands on the crumpled love letter in Daniel’s hands. Jihoon isn’t short, Daniel is just 90% legs and he has ridiculously long hands.

 

“No,” Daniel refuses. “I’m going to tear it up and swallow it and we’re never speaking of it again.”

 

“I said give it to me _now_ ,” Jihoon demands.

 

“I can’t believe we’re having our first lovers quarrel over a stupid love letter!” Daniel whines, still keeping the paper out of reach from Jihoon, adding, “Is this what you really wanted?”

 

“Yes,” Jihoon hisses. “You don’t want to see me getting mad.”

 

“I bet you’d still be cute when you’re mad,” Daniel grins and Jihoon ignores his slick compliment.

 

“Come on,” Jihoon protests. “I’ll read it once. And then I’ll never speak of it again.”

 

“Okay,” Daniel finally stops running away from Jihoon. “But only if you do one thing for me.”

 

Jihoon is thankful, because he’s a little out of breath from chasing Daniel around the house as well. Not very domestic, but they’re only on their first day, and they can try to make some improvements from here.

 

“Okay, spill,” Jihoon agrees.

 

“Give me a kiss.”

 

Daniel may not be a fuckboy, but he’s still a boy. With raging hormones.

 

“On the cheek,” Daniel clarifies. “Keep it there for three seconds.”

 

Jihoon mentally calculates the pros and cons, and finally decides there are no cons in this exchange, and pretends to be unaffected, “Okay. Come here.”

 

It’s Daniel’s turn to be flustered, “Really?”

 

“Get ready to be wowed by the power of my lips,” Jihoon smirks.

 

Daniel finally lowers his hand holding the love letter and Jihoon readies himself.

 

He’s going to do this, he’s just going to lean in and give Daniel a peck really quick. Nothing to be worried about, they’re already boyfriends. So why the fuck is his heart still pounding so loudly in his chest that he can’t hear anything else?

 

“I like you, Kang Daniel,” he whispers really quickly before pressing a kiss on Daniel’s left cheek while keeping one hand on Daniel’s other cheek.

 

 _One_.

 

 _Two_.

 

 _Three_.

 

“I like you too, Park Ji- _Hey_!”

 

Skilfully, Jihoon steals the love letter from Daniel’s already relaxed hand and starts running fast towards the bedroom. He ignores the shouting and quickly pulls out his phone, and snaps a quick picture before Daniel can see.

 

Daniel arrives quickly, out-of-breath in his own bedroom to see Jihoon grinning.

 

“What did you do?” Daniel narrows his eyes.

 

“Nothing,” Jihoon says, handing Daniel back his love letter. “You can keep it.”

 

“You don’t want to read it anymore?” Daniel sounds like he can’t believe Jihoon at all.

 

“Nah,” Jihoon lies through his teeth, knowing he has a secret copy to read every night.

 

“Hm,” Daniel hums while taking the letter back and locking it in one of his drawers, out of reach from Jihoon. He rolls into bed, only stopping when he knocks against Jihoon’s body.

 

“You kiss well,” Daniel comments. “Next time, you’re doing it on my lips.”

 

Jihoon pretends like the thought doesn’t make his heart thump quickly. Instead, he just smiles, “Looks like you’ll have to offer me something better for that to happen.”

 

“I can’t believe I have to strike a deal with my boyfriend just to get a kiss,” Daniel groans.

 

But the way Daniel smiles at Jihoon like he’s the entire star in Daniel’s night sky tells Jihoon that maybe Daniel doesn’t really mind at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whew the two dummies are finally together which means that we only have 1 chapter left to the end :D
> 
> thank you all so much for the support and love you've given me thus far i'm always so so thankful to have actual people out there read and enjoy my stories so thank you again and do leave a comment if you enjoyed this chapter!!
> 
> take care of yourselves and i'll see you guys on the last chapter really soon <3


	8. déjà vu and goodbyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the end.
> 
> dropped my twitter @ in the end notes, do check it out and hit me up ;)

“Aw,” Daniel hears Minhyun cooing from the side as he attempts to blow dry his hair in a somewhat presentable way. It’s not working, and he’s either a few seconds short of burning his hair or his fingers with the way he’s working his way through this.

 

“Our son is all grown up,” Minhyun smiles. And Daniel sees him leaning on Seongwoo’s shoulder from the mirror and frowns. It’s not working out, and Jihoon is expecting to see him in an hour. Daniel huffs, and turns back to his two friends.

 

“Please never refer to me as your lovechild ever again,” Daniel begs. Then, he holds up the comb and the hairdryer, “Now, which one of you wants to help me with my hair?”

 

Minhyun shoves Seongwoo to the front, making him the sacrificial lamb as he raids Daniel’s drawer for some decent clothes. Seongwoo professionally applies the hair gel to Daniel’s hair and attempts to save whatever mess Daniel created before.

 

“Now, son. Trust me,” Seongwoo jokes, making Daniel giggle. “This was exactly how I seduced your dad back in the old days.”

 

“Ew,” Minhyun wrinkles his nose from the back and holds out a striped button up for Daniel to look at. “I have never in my life seen you wear this. Since when did you have this in your cupboard?”

 

“I don’t know,” Daniel shrugs. His phone lights up, and he immediately reaches for it, heart thumping.

 

 

_From: Jihoonie <3_

_Hi!! See you later dummy :)_

 

 

“Pet names?” Seongwoo echoes from the back. “Even Minhyun and I took months to be comfortable with that. Teenagers these days, right _babe_?”

 

Seongwoo skilfully dodges the jeans that are tossed his way. At this point, Daniel is just glad that he has someone to talk to while his two friends are blatantly flirting in front of his face – although their form of flirting does involve some kind of violence.

 

“You’re lucky you have a handsome face,” Minhyun huffs as he picks up the jeans from the floor and dusts it. “Otherwise I would have left you at the rubbish dump I found you months ago.”

 

“ _See_?” Seongwoo taps Daniel’s shoulder. “All you really need is a handsome face. Now go get that boy.”

 

Daniel finally looks up from his phone to the mirror, and is both surprised and shocked to see that Seongwoo has done a more than decent job with his hair; it’s better than anything Daniel could have managed anyway.

 

Behind him, Minhyun has already laid out his jeans and a nicely ironed blue checkered button up on his bed.

 

“You guys spoil me too much,” Daniel protests, a smile already forming on his face. Minhyun and Seongwoo have never been so forthcoming with their support for Daniel’s dates. This time, Daniel feels a little different as well.

 

“You’ll manage well on your own,” Minhyun grins. “Go get it!”

 

“Our son is all grown up,” Seongwoo pretends to wipe a fake tear from his eyes. “Will he finally manage not to mess a date up?”

 

“Shut up,” Daniel replies with a chuckle. He still has time to walk over to the florist and get some nice flowers – his mother always told him that people would always love to receive flowers on a date. (unless they’re allergic.)

 

Daniel really hopes Jihoon likes flowers, because he’s going to get a whole bouquet of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Wow,” Woojin’s eyes scan Jihoon from his head to his toe. “You actually look decent.”

 

That alone is enough for Jihoon to know that he looks fine, because fishing for a compliment from Park Woojin is harder than looking for a needle in a barn full of haystacks. His outfit is doing fine, but Jihoon can’t say the same for his heart.

 

“Tell me a joke, so I can calm down,” Jihoon checks his phone for the time. Only half an hour more until their agreed meeting time at the bus stop near Woojin’s house.

 

With a completely serious face, Woojin replies, “ _You_.”

 

Jihoon sends a death glare Woojin’s way and his friend finally sits up for the first time that afternoon, “Why are you so nervous anyway? You guys have gone on so many dates, official or not.”

 

“I don’t know,” Jihoon confesses.

 

Up till today, Jihoon isn’t sure how he managed to land someone like Daniel. It still sends butterflies to his stomach when he catches a glimpse of Daniel staring at him, and it still makes his heart jump when he receives a text message with Daniel’s name next to it.

 

_I just can’t believe how lucky I am._

 

“Spend less of your time worrying and more of your time making memories with him,” Woojin advices. “You’re flying back on Friday. There’s not much time left.”

 

Jihoon’s heart drops, knowing Woojin is spilling nothing but cold, hard facts. He’s right, Jihoon only has two days till he flies off, and he’s not going to waste it by worrying. He checks his hair one last time in the mirror, and grabs the gift he’d been planning to give Daniel since a week ago.

 

“Don’t be back late,” Woojin calls out.

 

“I won’t!” Jihoon waves his friend goodbye. “Thanks for caring about me, best friend.”

 

Woojin makes some really disturbing kissy noises that makes Jihoon want to clean out his ears. Quickly, he rushes out of the house and makes his way to the bus stop. It’s always nice to be early – just to show Daniel how much he cares.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You’re early,” Daniel smiles when Jihoon attacks him with a light back hug and separates himself before he can get embarrassed.

 

“You’re earlier,” Jihoon replies, noticing the bouquet of flowers Daniel is holding in one hand. “Is that for me?”

 

“You got me,” Daniel grins, handing the bouquet over to Jihoon. “I hope you like flowers. My mother always said I should give flowers on special days to help us remember it better.”

 

“You were raised well,” Jihoon says, gratefully accepting the bouquet of flowers. It’s a mix of purple and yellow oodly shaped flowers, and he doesn’t think he’s seen them ever in his life. They kind of look like…

 

“ _Stars_ ,” Jihoon realises. “They look like stars.”

 

“I pre-ordered it,” Daniel smiles proudly when Jihoon recognises the shape of the flowers. “They didn’t have it ready at the florist. Aren’t they really pretty?”

 

“They are,” Jihoon agrees. “I’m going to keep them alive, even on the plane and when I’m back home.”

 

“You better keep to that,” Daniel warns playfully. “The bus is here, shall we go?”

 

“We shall.”

 

It’s like déjà vu, the way they board the bus and how Daniel allows Jihoon to sit on the inside, and the earphones and music that Daniel shares with Jihoon on the way to their final location.

 

The only difference is that their smiles are wider, laughter is more frequent, and a lot more forehead and hand kisses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel is glad to know that their secret place is still a secret to others, because when he and Jihoon get off at the final bus stop, the only thing that greets them is the rustling of trees from the wind and the regular passing of some traffic.

 

“Where to, _expert_?” Jihoon asks, already on his way to where they had sat previously.

 

“Anywhere’s good with you,” Daniel replies.

 

“Ew,” Jihoon pretends to be disgusted, although Daniel really knows that he’s just shy from his cheesy comments. “Bring back the old and nerdy Kang Daniel, I don’t know who this guy is.”

 

“I’ve always been this way,” Daniel teases, rubbing his nose into Jihoon’s neck, tickling him. “I’ve just hidden it so well the entire time.”

 

“Right,” Jihoon rolls his eyes. “Are you going to help me set up the picnic mat, or keep sniffing me like a dog?”

 

Finally, Daniel gives in and helps Jihoon with spreading the mat and laying out the food. This time, they’d agreed to bring a share of food each. Jihoon just wouldn’t let Daniel be the only one to contribute to the picnic.

 

“Here,” Daniel says, holding out a piece of sushi to Jihoon.

 

This time, he’d actually taken part in some of the cooking. He has to admit that Minhyun did help, but only if he felt like Daniel was going to hurt himself or burn down his entire house. A good effort, Daniel has to say.

 

Jihoon chews on the sushi happily, and Daniel’s heart bursts with pure glee. He’s sure he hasn’t felt anything as satisfying as seeing your boyfriend enjoying the food you’ve cooked in this world. If that’s what is takes to make Jihoon happy, Daniel is more than ready to take up cooking lessons from Gordon Ramsey – even if he’s going to get yelled and cursed at.

 

“And now,” Jihoon unwraps his picnic basket. “Chicken.”

 

Daniel isn’t sure why he’d expected this from Jihoon. The boy has an insatiable appetite for all types of chicken, especially fried.

 

He’s going to capture all the chickens in this world with his bare them and fry them all for Park Jihoon to eat one day.

 

“I told my parents about you,” Jihoon says, and Daniel’s heart starts beating quickly all over again. With dating cute boys, also comes having to please his folks. And Daniel isn’t sure if he’s the best candidate in that area.

 

“And?” Daniel prompts nervously.

 

Maybe Jihoon’s parents hate him, maybe they want Jihoon to date someone studying medicine and not the stupid stars and space and someone that can give him a better life-

 

“They’re super excited to see you,” Jihoon continues casually, like the suspense isn’t shortening Daniel’s life by ten years. “I showed them some of your pictures, and they think you’re really handsome. More than their own son.”

 

Silently, Daniel says a prayer of thanks to all his guardian angels out there for helping him get a head start on Jihoon’s parent’s good side. It’s going to be a long time before Daniel can actually meet them face to face, but for now, he’s content.

 

“My mother keeps asking you to come over,” Daniel confesses, remembering how his parents have been nagging at him to ask Jihoon over for dinner every night, as if Jihoon doesn’t have his own house to eat dinner at.

 

Daniel figures the reason why his parents already adore Jihoon more than all his other partners is the incident where Jihoon had publicly shamed Daniel for writing a love letter to him in front of the entire family.

 

 _(Where did Jihoon even get a picture of the letter from_?)

 

“Aw, I bet they’re going to miss me when I’m gone,” Jihoon jokes.

 

It hits Daniel hard, that Jihoon is leaving in two days. In two days, he’s not going to be able to ask Jihoon out for dates and buy him flowers anymore. And he’s going to miss Jihoon so, so, much.

 

“Me too,” Daniel says softly. “I’m going to miss you the most.”

 

Jihoon hears him, and Daniel knows he does because his expression falls. And Jihoon tries to control his feelings; he never likes showing how he really feels to Daniel just to be stronger for the other boy.

 

“We have Skype,” Jihoon smiles at his food. “And technology.”

 

“Yeah,” Daniel sighs, “I guess.”

 

Suddenly, the food doesn’t seem so appetizing anymore. His chest feels heavy – he’s sad.

 

“Hey,” Jihoon realises that Daniel has stopped eating. “Don’t be sad.”

 

When Daniel doesn’t respond, he shifts closer to wrap his arms around Daniel’s waist and lean his head on Daniel’s shoulder, “We’re going to be fine. Before you know it, you’ll be flying over to Seoul to have dinner with my parents.”

 

Six months, Daniel is just going to have to get through six months before he can see Jihoon again.

 

“Okay,” Daniel forces himself to smile because he doesn’t want to destroy their entire date because of his feelings. “Six months are going to fly by, right?”

 

“Right,” Jihoon agrees, giving Daniel a quick peck on the cheek before returning to his original position.

 

“What was that for?”

 

“Nothing,” Jihoon sticks his tongue out at Daniel. “Just eat your food, dummy.”

 

Daniel wants to lean over and pinch Jihoon’s cheeks, but holds back because his hands are oily and he really doesn’t want to get yelled at by Jihoon right now.

 

“Back to you, cutie.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are no meteor showers in the sky tonight but Jihoon still marvels at the way the stars seem infinite when he looks at them from the ground. The sky seems to stretch for miles and miles, and the stars follow suit.

 

He thinks he understands why Daniel is so in love with the stars and night sky, it’s like being transported to a whole new world you never knew existed.

 

“Are there cute boys in your school?” Daniel asks, which really ruins the moment for Jihoon there and then.

 

Jihoon lifts his head up from Daniel’s arm to look at the other boy, who is grinning.

 

“It doesn’t matter,” Jihoon replies, lying back down. “I only care about one.”

 

“Okay, I believe you,” Daniel quips. “I might have to get Guanlin’s number just in case.”

 

“Just in case, _what_?”

 

“Just in case you’re secretly crying yourself to sleep because you miss me so much or something,” Daniel jokes. “Or maybe, you’re writing love note to me all over your reports.”

 

Jihoon reaches his hand up to pinch Daniel’s cheek hard.

 

“Please,” Jihoon lies. “I’d be so busy, I wouldn’t even think of you.”

 

Inside, he already knows how he’s probably going to mope around when he gets back just because he misses Daniel so much. Jihoon already foresees himself whining to Guanlin about how much he misses Daniel, and then threatening Guanlin if he ever dares to speak of it to others.

 

“That’s better,” Daniel says. “Make sure time passes quickly, so we can meet again soon, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Jihoon says, almost in a whisper.

 

And then Daniel intertwines their fingers together, which makes Jihoon really want to kiss him right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Hey,” Daniel breaks the silence again. “I’m going to guess your major.”

 

It’d slipped Jihoon’s mind, to be honest.

 

“Go ahead,” he encourages.

 

“I think you’re a… Journalism major.”

 

Jihoon smiles, but doesn’t let Daniel see it.

 

“Why?”

 

“Does that mean I’m right?” Daniel cheers.

 

“No,” Jihoon sighs. “You’re absolutely wrong. It’s close, but not really. Good try, though.”

 

He hears Daniel huffing and chuckles. They only have two days left, and Jihoon isn’t confident that Daniel is going to guess it right.

 

“Damn it,” Daniel pouts. “I really have something I want from you, though.”

 

 _What would Daniel want from him_?

 

Jihoon sits up to let Daniel rest his head in his lap while he threads his fingers through Daniel’s soft hair.

 

“Try harder next time, maybe,” Jihoon quips.

 

“Mean,” Daniel snaps back with no menace.

 

Jihoon only smiles to himself. Somewhere along the times where he’s trying to memorize Daniel’s features, his gaze meets Daniel’s and he feels like time has stopped just for them. Jihoon doesn’t know why he’s hesitating – especially with Daniel.

 

It’s perfect, with only the stars watching them. And Jihoon can’t think of a better way to say, “I love you” to Daniel.

 

Softly, he cups Daniel’s face in his hands and leans in slowly.

 

Daniel isn’t patient, he props himself up to meet Jihoon in the middle. What ensues is a series of mini explosions in Jihoon’s chest when Daniel presses harder, wanting more. Jihoon gives in, and it feels so, so good to finally be able to kiss Kang Daniel.

 

It takes a lot for Jihoon to break away – Daniel’s kiss is almost addicting, and Jihoon wants more.

 

“Thank you,” Daniel says when they finally do. “I’ve been holding back for the longest time.”

 

“You have to stop holding back, then,” Jihoon replies. “I can’t be doing all the work here.”

 

“You’re right,” Daniel agrees.

 

And he pulls Jihoon down to lie down next to him again and kisses him with the same amount of desperation to slow down time as before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel actually has to stop himself before it goes too far, and he can’t stop.

 

“You’re beautiful,” he gushes as he sweeps Jihoon’s hair away from his face.

 

“Stop it,” Jihoon whines, probably embarrassed and turns away.

 

Daniel follows, until Jihoon doesn’t resist it anymore.

 

Finally, he lands a big smooch on his boyfriend’s cheek.

 

“I have something for you,” Jihoon pushes him away and reaches over for his bag. “Close your eyes.”

 

Willingly, Daniel shuts his eyes and holds out his hands.

 

“Okay, open them,” Jihoon says.

 

When he opens his eyes, a dark blue friendship bracelet sits on his outstretched palm.

 

“It’s nothing much,” Jihoon shrugs. “But it’s my lucky bracelet. I wear this every time I do something important, so keep it safe until you come back to me, okay?”

 

Daniel has been gifted many things before – but never something he deems as precious as this.

 

“I love it,” Daniel says, and he means every word he says. “I’m going to wear it every day.”

 

Without hesitating, Daniel quickly slips his hand into the bracelet and pulls the ends so that it tightens nicely around his wrist.

 

“Don’t exaggerate,” Jihoon chides, and Daniel looks up to grin at Jihoon – until he sees a single tear fall down Jihoon’s face and he panics.

 

Jihoon turns around just in time to hide it from Daniel, but he’d already seen it.

 

“Jihoon?” he calls out. Jihoon just buries his face into his hands.

 

“Oh my god,” Daniel gushes and quickly runs to Jihoon’s side. “Babe, don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”

 

“I’m not crying,” Jihoon protests, clearly crying.

 

“Look at me,” Daniel says.

 

Daniel waits, until Jihoon calms down and finally gathers the courage to lift his face.

 

“I’ll see you soon,” Daniel promises, using his thumbs to wipe the tears away from Jihoon’s face. “You want to know the secret to not missing me too much?”

 

Jihoon finally smiles at Daniel’s antics, and nods, just to play along.

 

Quietly, just so that only Jihoon can hear him, Daniel whispers the secret into Jihoon’s ear.

 

“I love you,” Jihoon mumbles into Daniel’s shoulder.

 

“Me too,” Daniel says. For the first time, he feels like his words actually mean something, like they carry weight. And he knows he has found the right one. “I love you too.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon is dreading seeing Daniel today. This is one day he really doesn’t want to see Daniel’s face pop up in front of him, because it’s going to make saying goodbye so much worse.

 

“Stay safe in college, doofus,” Woojin nudges Jihoon, who looks a little down. “Don’t miss me too much.”

 

“I left my toothbrush in your bathroom,” Jihoon manages to joke. “So that you’ll have something to remember me by.”

 

Woojin smiles, his stupid snaggletooth showing which cues “Ew!”s from Daehwi and Jinyoung, who are watching over from the side. They roll their eyes, and Woojin wraps him in a less than three second tight hug.

 

“Come back soon,” Woojin pats his back. “We have a lot of ice-cream to eat.”

 

“I will,” Jihoon promises. “And good luck with you know… _Hyungseob_.”

 

Woojin’s eyes flicker with something between fear and surprise, and Jihoon explains, “Don’t worry, I got Daniel to fill me in on everything.”

 

“Asshole,” Woojin hisses. “Speaking of which, you have someone to go to.”

 

Woojin cocks his head to the side, where Daniel has arrived and is waving to Jihoon – and yes, he is wearing the same dark blue bracelet Jihoon had gifted to him.

 

“Thanks,” he smiles at his friend one last time before bounding off to Daniel’s open, waiting arms.

 

“Oof,” Daniel groans when Jihoon crashes into him. “Did you gain weight?”

 

“Hey!” Jihoon protests, hitting Daniel lightly once in the chest.

 

“Kidding,” Daniel ruffles his hair.

 

“Can I take one last guess about your major?”

 

Jihoon can’t believe that up till the last second – Daniel is still trying.

 

“Last try,” Jihoon challenges as he stares right into Daniel’s eyes. “Make it count.”

 

Maybe he mistakes Daniel’s confident smile as something else, but Jihoon wasn’t expecting to hear the two words, “Creative Writing” ever come out of Daniel’s mouth.

 

While Jihoon is still at a loss for words, Daniel panics.

 

“Is it wrong?”

 

“You… actually guessed it.”

 

Daniel pauses for two seconds before he realises what he’s really done.

 

“I knew it!” Daniel yells out, catching the attention of everyone else in the airport, and Jihoon has to shush him before they attract anyone else’s attention. “All the talk about alternate universes and the way you compare things to each other and your way of talking and-“

 

“Quick,” Jihoon knows the time to check-in is approaching. “Your wish, I’ll grant it now.”

 

“I can’t ask you to stay, can I?” Daniel asks, with a sad smile.

 

“No,” Jihoon replies, feeling his heart drop as well. “Anything else?”

 

“Remember what I said,” Daniel finally says. “And wait for me to come back to you.”

 

“Your wish is my command,” Jihoon promises, linking their pinky fingers together before landing a quick peck on Daniel’s cheek.

 

“I’m going, okay?” Jihoon says. “See you soon.”

 

“Have a safe flight,” Daniel ruffles his hair one last time. “Text me when you get home.”

 

“I will.”

 

No one told him coming to visit his friend for summer break would be so hard to say goodbye to.

 

“Not going to say goodbye, because it’s not,” Daniel clarifies. “Now, go. Before I start ugly crying.”

 

“Please don’t ugly cry,” Jihoon pleads.

 

Jihoon finally steps away from Daniel, nearer to the guards checking passports.

 

“Call me.”

 

“I will.”

 

“Have fun in school.”

 

“You too.”

 

“I love you.”

 

“I love you more.”

 

And finally, Jihoon turns his back and hands his passport over to the guard, who waves him in with a smile.

 

When a glass door finally separates them, Jihoon realises just how much he’s going to miss Kang Daniel.

 

Daniel waves until Jihoon can’t see him through the mass of people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flights are always hard for Jihoon.

 

It’s not because of crying babies, or the shitty plane food.

 

It’s more of realising just how far away he is from Daniel’s arms.

 

The stewardess comes to collect his half-eaten food, and he orders himself another drink just to fill his empty stomach.

 

He’s lucky to land himself the window seat.

 

Because when he looks out, there are about a million stars in the night sky. And he feels so much closer to the stars this way. Slowly but surely, he feels better.

 

Then Jihoon remembers what Daniel had whispered to him that night – and doesn’t feel as lonely anymore.

 

_“Look up at the night sky and the stars, and think of me. When you do, know that I will be looking at the very same night sky and thinking of you as well.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first of all thank you for staying until the end. It's such a bittersweet and last chapter that i'm feeling so emotional as well...
> 
> thank you for all your continuous love and support throughout the entire story, and please know i will never forget how much love you have shown to me!! i appreciate every single kudos and bookmark and comment it means so much to me.
> 
>  
> 
> and!! i finally have a twitter where you guys can scream to me!
> 
> hit me up @bapaldeul and please please say hello to me and let's be friends!! <3
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> i'm so excited to finally be able to talk to all of you so do follow me there!!
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>  
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> as always, i love you guys and please take care of yourselves <3


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